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She was so pretty, that I stammered and couldn’t remember what on earth it 
was I did want. -Page 35. .n ^^rtn it 

A Desperate Game. 



A DESPERATE GAME 


A NOVEL 


By FLORENCE WARDEN 



“ Give me a nook and a book, 

And let ^he proud world spin round.” 


A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS, 
52-58 DUANE STREET, NEW YORK ^ 





V '. j-^ 'r^ '- t;-'*- 




O 


‘ f. 


THE Li or? ARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Ccf=tfiS RpCFfvFD 

MAY, 22 1902 

Copyright entry 

CLASS A- XXc. No 
3 f%2- th 
COPY B. 


Copyright, 1902. By A. L. BURT COMPANY. 


A DESPERATE GAME. 

By Florence Warden. 


A DESPERATE GAME 


CHAPTER I 

Whir-r-r-r-r ! Whir-r-r-r-r ! 

At the door of the log-house, where he was 
sitting in his shirt and leather breeches, riding 
boots and sombrero hat, Gaspard Farebrother 
stopped, in his occupation of devouring coarse 
bread and fat pork, to listen. 

Whir-r-r-r-r ! Whir-r-r-r-r ! 

Fifteen months of life on a Californian ranch 
had taught the young Englishman to distinguish 
the gallop of horses, the whir-r of the long driv- 
ing-whip, at a great distance. 

He got up stiffly, for he had been riding hard 
that day, and was tired, and, strolling up a slight 
hill whence he could get a better view of the 
country, he shaded his eyes with his hand and 
looked over the plain. 

He had not been mistaken. 'There, still in the 
distance, spurring the hardy little horse he rode 
as if his life depended upon his pace, was the 
lithe figure of his younger brother, Michael, 
coming towards him at the animal’s full speed. 

“ What on earth’s the matter with .the fellow ? ” 

3 


4 


A Desperate Game 

muttered Gaspard, who knew that, after such a 
long day as Michael had just had, journeying to 
the nearest town for the necessary periodical food 
supplies, it was their custom to jog back at an 
easy pace. 

When Michael had got near enough to see his 
brother, he took out of one of his pockets and 
waved aloft a tiny something which Gas^rd 
guessed must be a letter. And the excitement 
was explained. 

A letter from the old country was even more 
of a rarity to the young brothers than it is to 
most exiles. For the lads were orphans ; and 
their nearest relative, their father's sister, though 
she had always expressed the greatest affection for 
the nephews, whose prospects depended upon her, 
was lazy and by no means a good correspondent. 

Gaspard was as much excited as his brother by 
the time the two met. 

“Well, who’s it from, eh?” he asked, before 
the younger had got near enough to throw him 
the precious epistle. 

But then he was surprised to see that it was 
more than excitement that burned in Michael’s 
black eyes and in his bronzed cheeks. 

“You’ll see, you’ll see,” answered Michael, as, 
with fierce irritation in every look and tone and 
movement, he flung himself off his pony, and 
turned the animal loose. “We’re paupers, Gas- 
pard, you and I, paupers, my boy, as sure as we 
stand here ! ” 

“ What do you mean — paupers ? ” 

“ Read and judge for yourself,” said Michael 


A Desperate Game 5 

shortly, as he thrust the sheet of paper into his 
brother’s hand. 

The letter began : “ My dear Michael,” and 
was in a feminine hand, which Gaspard did not 
know. So, instead of beginning by reading it, he 
turned at once to the signature at the end. This 
was Ellen Chalmers.” 

From Mrs. Chalmers, the Vicar’s wife ! ” mur- 
mured he in surprise. 

“ Yes, yes, go on. Read it,” said Michael, 
impatiently. 

Gaspard obeyed, and read the following : — 

My dear Michael, — Of course you will be very 
much surprised at getting a letter from me, as I 
have never written to you before, and I should 
not now but that I think you ought to know what 
is going on up at The Abbey. 

Of course, the Vicar says I am an interfering 
old busy-body to take any notice of it at all. He 
says I am the regulation parson’s wife, who will 
have a finger in every pie and upset the parish if 
she can. So you see what I have brought upon 
^ myself by writing ; yet, nevertheless, I do write, 
because I feel that 1 ought. 

During the last few months a certain individual 
who calls himself Doctor Skates has been staying 
down here at St. Mary’s-on-Sea with his wife. 
He calls himself an American, but I really don’t 
know what he is. Both he and his wife appear 
to be very pleasant people, and they have wormed 
their way into the liking of everybody. (The 
Vicar says “ wormed their way” is not a right ex- 


6 


A Desperate Game 

pression. He says the general liking for them is 
only the natural consequence of their being pleas- 
anter people than the rest of us ; but I’m not 
going to allow that.) 

They appear to be pretty well off ; they have 
taken a furnished house here, for which they are 
still paying the winter terms of two guineas a 
week. (The Vicar says I am a female Paul Pry 
because I know this. But I don’t care.) Your 
aunt, Miss Farebrother, seems to be greatly taken 
both with the Doctor and his wife ; and one or 
other or both of them have been going to see her 
regularly every day for some time. Of course, as 
the Vicar says, this may be all right ; but what I 
don’t like is that Miss Farebrother seems to have 
changed a little since these people became so inti- 
mate with her. The Doctor goes in for following 
some sort of new religion — a kind of Spiritualism, 
I think, and I can’t help fancying that he is try- 
ing to make a convert of your aunt. 

(The Vicar says that this is my nasty jealousy, 
because Miss Farebrother has never gone regu- 
larly to church. But it is not true. Though she 
does not often come to church, and never did, she 
has been just as generous as usual to our little 
charities, and the Church Warming Fund.) 

Now, though I have been uneasy about this for 
some time, knowing how much you and your 
brother depend upon your aunt, I should not have 
ventured to write like this, but for something that 
happened yesterday. I was going down to leave 
some tea and a coal ticket for old Saunders, and 
I happened to pass up the Abbey lane. 


7 


A Desperate Game 

And who should be going up the other side but 
Dr. Skates, with another man, who looked just 
like a lawyer. The Vicar says I can’t tell a lawyer 
by the look of him, but I know better ; and though 
I should not like to repeat the few words I caught 
of what Dr. Skates was saying to him, I feel sure 
that they implied that some sort of business was 
to be transacted with your aunt. 

I went home much excited, when I had seen 
them go through the Abbey gate. The Vicar 
laughed at me, as usual, and at first forbade me 
to write to you at all. But when he had thought 
it over (he says it was to keep me quiet !), he told 
me that if I didn’t mind making myself a laugh- 
ing-stock I might send you a few lines, but not a 
ream. As I think I am getting near the ream 
now, I will not say any more, except to urge you 
both, or one of you, at any rate, to come back to 
England with the least possible delay. 

I know Miss Farebrother is a thoroughly good 
woman ; but if Dr. Skates should not be the dis- 
interested gentleman we hope he is — well, well, 
perhaps I had better not say any more. 

I do hope your stay in California has done Gas- 
pard’s health all the good the doctors hoped from 
it. From what your aunt has told me of your 
letters, I believe this has been the case. But if 
he cannot come back on account of his health, at 
least I should advise you to do so. 

Tell Gaspard to forgive, me for writing to you 
instead of to him. Although he is the elder, I 
have thought it best to write to you, as I know, 
from the wicked pranks you used to play at home, 


8 A Desperate Game 

that you have no end of energy, as well as robust 
health. 

Believe me, with kindest regards from the Vicar 
and myself, to you both. 

Yours very sincerely, 

Ellen Chalmers. 

P. S. — I have just this moment heard that Dr. 
Skates and his wife are going to stay at The 
Abbey ! ! ! Now, do you think I am right to 
write to you ? — E. C. 


Gaspard read the letter through slowly, and 
with the greatest attention. Then he folded it 
carefully, and the brothers looked at each other. 

A pair of bright-faced, handsome lads they were, 
even in the weather-stained, rough clothing that 
they wore on the ranch. Perhaps, indeed, the 
shabby, rusty-colored slouch hat he wore added 
something to the picturesqueness of Gaspard, a 
tall, slightly built man of four-and-twenty, whose 
ragged brown beard and curly hair, blue eyes, and 
tanned skin, made an ensemble that a painter 
would have found strikingly attractive. 

Michael, the younger by a year and a half, was 
shorter and of sturdier build ; his black hair was 
straight, and he had no beard. But in his black 
eyes there was a devilry, in his movements a rest- 
less energy, which would have made him, in many 
eyes, even more attractive than his handsomer- 
featured brother. 

He also wore with some grace the ranch cos- 
tume of leather breeches and loose shirt ; in the 


9 


A Desperate Game 

interests of truth it is unfortunately necessary to 
admit that the shirt was never the picturesque red 
garment of melodrama, but a baggy thing of vague 
and undecided tints, usually much deteriorated by 
the laundry methods of the ranch. 

‘‘ Well, what do you think ? said Michael. 

‘‘ I think things look very dicky,” said Gaspard, 
rather dismally. Ten to one the old lady’s right, 
and this Skate is some impostor who has got hold 
of Aunt.” 

Michael nodded. 

‘‘We must get back as fast as we can,” said he, 
with decision. 

His elder brother looked surprised. 

“ How can we ? ” asked he, blankly. “ We 
can’t give up the ranch. We can’t trust two raw 
hands like Haynes and Burrell to do the work by 
themselves. We can’t ” 

“We can, though, and we must,” interrupted 
Michael, shortly. “ Look here, Gaspard. Our 
father trusted Aunt to look after us, in consider- 
ation of all he did for her ; he lived a bachelor for 
years to look after her ; and when he married, he 
considered her more than his wife, more than any- 
body. Now, if after that, she doesn’t treat us 
fairly, she deserves to be hanged, that’s all.” 

“ There’s no way of forcing her to treat us 
fairly, though,” said Gaspard, gloomily. “If she 
chooses not to leave us anything, and to give it all 
away to Skates, or to an asylum for cats, for that 
matter, nobody can prevent her. And you know 
what these old ladies are.” 

“ I know that I’m not going to let it be a walk- 


lo A Desperate Game 

over for Skates, anyhow,” said Michael, promptly. 
“ To-morrow I just pack up my traps for England, 
Home, and Skates ! ” 

And he clenched his teeth and shook his fist 
on the last word. 

The less energetic and more thoughtful Gaspard 
was not long in making up his mind to follow his 
brother’s example. After a discussion with the 
other young fellows who were their partners in 
the ranch, an arrangement was come to by which, 
by a concession on their side, they left it open for 
themselves to return or to make over their share 
in the property to their partners, who were to look 
after their interests while they were away. 

And within three weeks from the receipt of the 
letter from the Vicar’s wife the two young men 
had sailed on their way from New York to 
Liverpool. 

They had thought it best to send no word of 
their intention to return ; and it was not until 
they arrived in London that they wrote to inform 
their aunt they were c. ‘^g to see her, and that 
Michael wrote a little note to Mrs. Chalmers to 
thank her for her letter. 

They had some shopping to do in town before 
they could make their appearance at St. Mary’s- 
on-Sea. Gaspard’s beard had to give place to the 
simplicity of a well-trimmed mustache, and his 
locks had to be shorn to a civilized length. 
Michael, however, annoyed and amazed his 
.brother by leaving his lank black hair too long, 
and by shaving off his mustache altogether. 

And he not only refused to give any explanation 


A Desperate Game 

of this freak of taste, but he insisted upon going 
to order his clothes by himself, instead of allowing 
Gaspard, whose taste was much better than his 
own, to help him in his choice. 

And this was not the last of his eccentricities. 
When they were well on their way to St. Mary’s, 
very snugly ensconced in the opposite corners of a 
first-class smoking compartment, Michael put 
down his paper, and, squaring his elbows on his 
knees, leant forward, and said : 

Look here, I want to tell you something. 
When we get near St. Mary’s, you’re just to go 
on, whatever happens. Don’t mind me.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” asked Gaspard. I 
can’t quite make you out lately. What is gained 
by making a mystery to me of the things you’re 
going to do ? ” 

But Michael was obstinate. His black eyes 
twinkled, and he answered coolly : ‘‘ I mean to set 
about things my own way. If I were to tell you 
everything, you’d spend an hour arguing, and 
you’d very likely end by giving the show away. 
You see you’re easily talked over ; I’m not.” 

So Gaspard sat back, feeling rather sorry he had 
ever left California, and wearing a face so dismal 
that presently his brother burst out laughing. 

“ Don’t look as if you were going to a funeral, 
man ! ” cried he, as he slapped the gloomy Gas- 
pard sharply on the knee. ‘‘ We’ll rout the enemy 
never fear ! ” 

Gaspard, however, continued to look serious. 

I’m beginning to think we’ve come over on 
a wild-goose chase,” said he. After all, what 


12 


A Desperate Game 

business have we over here at all? Aunt can’t be 
prevented by us from leaving her money to whom 
she likes, and it’s not a very dignified thing for us 
to do to try to influence her. Besides, we don’t 
even know that it may not be all a mistake. We’ve 
only that letter to go upon ; and Mrs. Chalmers 
herself confesses that she’s called a meddling old 
busybody ! ” 

Michael’s mouth looked square as he an- 
swered : 

“ Well, we’re in for it now, you know. And 
it’s all nonsense about Aunt’s being at liberty to 
leave her money to whom she likes. You know 
she’s bound in honor to leave it to us, and that 
she gave her word to our father that she would. 
If it hadn’t been for him she would have lost 
every shilling of it. You know that story.” 

“ But this Skates may be a perfectly honest man, 
and a good friend ! ” 

I mistrust the good friends of rich old ladies ! ” 
retorted Michael. 

‘‘ And how about our reason for coming over ? 
How shall we explain that? It looks very 
suspicious that you’ve had no answer to your 
ktter telling Aunt we were coming down.” 

She’s not fond of letter-writing,’’ said Mi- 
chael. 

“ Supposing we should find we’re not ad- 
mitted ! ” suggested Gaspard. 

“Then, by Jove, that will prove we were right 
to come ! ” retorted the younger brother. 

Now, although this was perfectly true, yet it 
did not suggest a very lively prospect of affairs in 


A Desperate Game ^3 

case Miss Farebrother should really have been 
‘‘got hold of by the fascinating strangers. 
They could not force their way into their aunt's 
house against her will, and, although they were 
not penniless, they would certainly be put in a very 
awkward position if they should be thus thrown 
upon their own resources, after abandoning their 
ranch to come back. 

A certain uneasiness began to take possession 
even of the buoyant Michael, and after softly 
whistling to himself to show that he was perfectly 
light of heart — which he was not — he relapsed 
into silence. 

When the train stopped at Cliffgate, which was 
the station before St. Mary's-on-Sea, Michael 
said he would get out and have a drink. Gas- 
pard urged him not to do this, saying that, now he 
was so near his journey’s end, he might well wait 
a few minutes. With his usual obstinacy, the 
younger brother persisted in his intention, and 
the end of it was that the train went on without 
him. 

Gaspard was a good deal annoyed by this inci- 
dent, until it came into his head to wonder whether 
this freak on his brother’s part had been part of 
a set plan, to which he meant to refer when he said 
Gaspard was to go straight on, whatever happened. 

Not all pleased with Michael’s behavior, Gas- 
pard was by no means in a good humor when the 
train drew into the little station at St. Mary’s-on- 
Sea, and he threw his rugs and his brother’s to a 
porter with a scowl on his handsome face. 

He thought he would leave his luggage at the 


H A Desperate Game 

station and walk on to the Abbey, as he did not 
care to face alone the risk of being turned away 
from his aunt’s gates with a local flyman to wit- 
ness his humiliation. As he walked along the 
platform to point out his portmanteau and his 
brother’s to the porter, he noticed a man standing 
evidently waiting for some one, and was so much 
struck by his appearance that he turned back to 
look at him again. 

The man’s dress suggested that he might be a 
minister of religion, though it was not easy to say 
to what denomination he belonged. He was a 
fine looking man of some fifty to fifty-five years 
of age, tall, of stalwart build, and rather stout. 
His blue eyes were mild and kindly, and his whole 
face,'"which was fresh-colored and fair of complexion, 
beamed with kindliness and shrewd good-humor. 
Hair, which was growing gray, and was worn rather 
long, and a well-trimmed beard, rather whiter than 
the hair of his head, added to the venerable 
dignity of a most imposing and prepossessing 
figure. 

Gaspard wondered who he was. 

When he had given his things in the charge of 
the station authorities, the young man left the 
little building, and uttered an exclamation of 
astonishment on seeing his aunt’s little pony-carri- 
age, with her pair of pretty ponies, waiting outside. 

The groom, who was standing at their heads, 
recognizing Gaspard, touched ’ his hat, and told 
him the chaise had come to meet him and his 
brother. 

, A sense of comfort and satisfaction rushed into 


A Desperate Game G 

the young man’s heart, and at the same moment 
a lady, who was the sole occupant of the little car- 
riage, smiled and bowed to him, inviting him to 
approach. 

With a sudden inkling of the truth, Gaspard 
raised his hat and went up to her. 

“ I must introduce myself, Mr. Farebrother,” 
said she,' speaking in a soft and gentle voice which 
was full of charm. ‘‘You are Gaspard, I’m sure. 
Your aunt was not well enough to come to meet 
you, so she asked the Doctor and me to come in- 
stead. I don’t suppose you know who I am ; but 
we are great friends of Miss Farebrother’s. Our 
name is Skates ; Doctor and Mrs. Skates.” 


CHAPTER II 

Gaspard replied in a suitable manner to these 
kindly words, returned the warm pressure of the 
lady’s hand, and wished fervently that Michael 
were beside him. 

He was bewildered ; thrown off his balance. 
What had they been doing, pair of young fools 
that they were, to leave their ranch and their 
healthy and not unhappy life, just to find that they 
had been misled by an idle rumor into believing 
that their prospects were in danger. 

Nothing, surely, could be less like the mien 
and manners of an adventuress than the gracious 


1 6 A Desperate Game 

way in which Mrs. Skates asked what had become 
of his brother, insisted on his getting into the 
carriage beside her, and despatched the groom 
into the station to tell the Doctor that Mr. Fare- 
brother had come. 

Gaspard took a fancy to the lady at once. She 
was apparently somewhere between forty-five and 
fifty years of age, but her face could still be called 
handsome, and the gentle, Madonna-like expres- 
sion of her hazel eyes accorded harmoniously with 
her soft voice and gentle manners. She was 
dressed in a very handsome mantle of the regula- 
tion dolman kind, so dear to elderly ladies, wore a 
gray satin bonnet, almost Quaker-like in color and 
shape, under which her wavy brown hair, plenti- 
fully sprinkled with gray, hung in an old-fashioned 
way, forming a frame to the gentle face. 

She seemed much disappointed that she had only 
one nephew to bring home to Miss Farebrother, 
instead of the two she had expected. 

And see how we have been preparing for you ! 
said she, pointing to a row of paper bags on the 
seat in front. ‘‘ I have been all round the place 
shopping in order to get something nice to tempt 
your appetites after your journey. Miss Fare- 
brother laughed at me, but 1 told her now I had no 
boys of my own it amused me to look after other 
people’s.’' 

“ You’re very good,” said Gaspard, much com- 
forted by this reception, which seemed to show 
that he would be well received by his aunt also. 

At that moment Doctor Skates hurried out of 
the station, with both hands outstretched. 


A Desperate Game ‘7 

“ Hallo, why, how’s this, only one of you, eh ? 
What’s become of number two ? ” 

The Doctor’s warmth was so exuberant that, for 
the first time, Gaspard found shooting through 
his mind a suspicion that this welcome to himself 
was overdone. He was ashamed of himself the 
next moment. He was ashamed also to find, when 
he was being driven towards the Abbey by Mrs. 
Skates, while the Doctor insisted on going on foot, 
that he did not like the face of the lady beside him 
quite so well when it was in repose as he had done 
while he was under the momentary spell of her 
voice and of her smile. 

He tried to dispel his uneasiness by asking Mrs. 
Skates questions about his aunt. And her charm 
became immediately as strong as ever. 

“ I wish I could say Miss Farebrother was as 
well as we should like to see her ! ” she answered, 
shaking her head rather gravely. Tm afraid 
she’s been worrying herself a little lately ; she 
caught a nasty cold in the winter, and was a long 
time shaking it off, and then she had a touch of 
influenza, or something of that sort.” 

‘‘ Did she ? She never said anything about it in 
her letters,” said Gaspard. 

‘‘ No. She’s a dear, brave lady, who neve 
will own to being ill. I think she mopes a little, 
all by herself in that great house, with nobody 
but servants about her. Anyhow, she seems to 
have grown much more cheerful since she’s not 
been quite alone.” 

“ You and Dr. Skates are staying with her, I 
understand ? ” said Gaspard. 


A Desperate Game 

As he looked at the lady, but certainly with no 
intention of spying upon her looks or gestures, 
Gaspard had a fancy that he saw a slight quiver- 
ing of the muscles of her face when he came to 
the last word. 

Yes,'" she answered, after perhaps a couple 
of seconds' pause. ‘‘ How did you hear of it ^ " 

Gaspard, still rather ashamed of his suspicions, 
yet was prudent enough not to betray too 
much. 

Oh, you know we've been in London some 
days," he answered, evading a direct answer. 

“ I confess I was rather reluctant to accept 
your aunt’s invitation at first," said Mrs. Skates, 
with a gentle little sigh. “To tell you the truth, 
I do love my freedom ; that's true American, 
isn't it ? And no matter how hospitably you may 
be received, there is always a certain inevitable 
feeling of constraint on one when one is staying 
in the house of a friend, no matter how intimate. 
Don't you think so ? " 

“No doubt there is," assented Gaspard. 

“ So, on the whole. I'm glad, not only for your 
aunt's sake and yours, but for my own also, that 
you and your brother have come back, and 
that we can now, without unkindness, leave the 
Abbey." 

Gaspard felt reassured and remorseful. Since 
she had made up her mind to leave the Abbey at 
once, it seemed pretty clear that she must be free 
from any sinister intentions. 

“ Perhaps she won't let you go," suggested 
Gaspard. “ She might think my brother and me 


A Desperate Game ^9 

a very bad exchange for you. She was not always 
best pleased with our pranks in the old days, when 
we were back from Eton, and then from Oxford.” 

Mrs. Skates laughed with amusement. 

I dare say she wasn’t ! ” said she. But 
you’ve grown older and staider now. I’ve no 
doubt. Anyhow, now you’ve come, we’ve got 
our excuse' for going. She can’t say she’s lonely 
any longer ! ” 

They were by this time in the Abbey Lane, in 
which unpretending thoroughfare Miss Fare- 
brother’s house was situated. 

The Abbey was a building which always excited 
surprise and curiosity in both visitors and passers- 
by. Originally a most modest dwelling, erected 
on the site of some bygone and forgotten monas- 
tic pile of the Middle Ages, it had been added to 
and almost rebuilt by Miss Farebrother’s prede- 
cessor, until it was now a huge, rambling erection 
of red brick, of a fanciful style of architecture, 
with an oriel window here, a turret there ; an im- 
posing baronial hall with a handsome timbered 
roof at one end of the building, and a nest of 
dingy little rooms at another. 

The whole place wanted more space ; it was 
too massive for its position, close behind a high 
wall in a narrow lane : one felt that it ought to 
have been in a wide park, with lawns on every 
side, instead of being so placed that no passer-by 
could even get a good look at its fanciful propor- 
tions. 

Gaspard felt strangely moved when he found 
himself under the glass roof that led from the 


A Desperate Game 

outer gate in the wall to the Gothic porch, squeezed 
into an angle, under which was the front door of 
his aunt’s house. 

The manservant who opened the door was a 
stranger to him, but Gaspard noticed that he was 
very obsequious — there was no other word for it — 
to Mrs. Skates, who put her hand into the arm 
of the returning nephew, and asked where Miss 
Farebrother was. 

“In the drawing-room, madam,” replied the 
man. And he waited for them to follow him 
along the short passage on the left which led to 
the long, light room, leading into the garden, 
which Gaspard so well remembered. 

The door was opened. There came the old, 
overpowering rush of warm, scented air, which the 
young man remembered so well as a characteristic 
sign of his aunt’s whereabouts. The next mo- 
ment he had instinctively disengaged himself from 
Mrs. Skates, and was crossing the long room 
rapidly towards the little old lady who was sitting 
by the fire, with her pet dog in her lap. 

The little Pomeranian leaped down, and barked 
at the newcomer. 

Miss Farebrother looked up without a smile. 

Gaspard was chilled in an instant. 

Some subtle change had come over the tiny, 
faded lady whom he and his brother had once 
looked upon as a second mother. Instead of the 
tender, anxious eyes which had looked at him 
when, on the eve of the momentous journey which 
had been ordered for his health, she had gloated 
solicitously over his then thin features, he now 


21 


A Desperate Game 

met a cold stare of something which was not un- 
like suspicion. 

Instead of the clinging hands which had instinc- 
tively sought to detain him on that occasion, it 
was a dry, cold touch of the fingers that Miss 
Farebrother now extended to her nephew, as he 
stooped to kiss her forehead. 

“ How do you do, Gaspard ? '' she said. Shut 
the door, John, if nobody else is coming in.” 

Doesn't the dear boy look well ? ” said Mrs. 
Skates, in the soft voice which Gaspard suddenly 
felt that he hated. “You have told me that he 
used to be pale and thin.” 

“ Yes, he doesn't look as if he'd been pining 
away, certainly,” said Miss Farebrother, who was 
already patting her black satin lap as a sign to her 
dog to get back into his old place. “ I thought 
your brother was coming, too ? ” 

She was looking at the fire. 

“He got left behind at Cliffgate, Aunt. I 
expect he'll be here by the next train.” 

“ Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I dare say he 
can take care of himself,” said Miss Farebrother, 
indifferently. “ Where's the Doctor, Blanche ? ” 

“ Oh, he walked.” 

“ Dear me ! It's a new thing for the young men 
to drive while their elders walk, isn't it? How- 
ever, I suppose it's all right. A sign of the times, 
that's all.” 

Mrs. Skates laughed sweetly. 

“ Oh, it wasn't your dear nephew's fault. You 
know the Doctor's rough, obstinate ways. He 
marched off by himself with a cheery wave of the 


22 


A Desperate Game 

hand before we could so much as open our mouths, 
didn’t he, Gaspard ? ” 

And she turned to the young man with a sort 
of look of sweet apology for using his Christian 
name. 

“ Oh, yes,” said the young man, who felt that 
he was choking. “ I should have been very glad 
to walk, too. In fact, I think the sooner I walk 
out of the house the better,” he added, with a 
sudden sullen note of indignation. 

Mrs. Skates’ soft hands were upon his arm in 
a moment. 

‘‘ My dear boy, don’t,” she said softly. ^‘Believe 
me, we are all, all, delighted to have you back.” 

‘‘ It doesn’t look like it,” said he, still smarting. 

But Miss Farebrother took no notice of the 
little discussion. She still sat, the same little wax 
figure with the fluffy, fair hair which the boys had 
always suspected to be an artificial product, play- 
ing with her dog’s tail with tiny yellow hands 
flashing with jeweled rings, and gazing at the 
fire. 

“ Come and have some tea,” cooed Mrs. Skates, 
as she led the angry young man out of the room, 
and pushed him playfully into the breakfast-room, 
where she made him sit in a big armchair by the 
fire, while she rang the bell. 

“ Don’t take any notice of her funny little ways, 
my dear boy,” she said gently. ‘‘ She’ll be all 
right presently. She has these fits sometimes ; 
she’ll soon be herself again, and treat you with all 
the kindness you could ask. Come now, have 
some tea.” 


A Desperate Game ^3 

Then there was a footstep and a cheery voice 
in the hall, and Dr. Skates, looking more reverend 
and amiable than ever without his hat, came in 
and sat down for a chat about the voyage home, 
and the adventures of the brothers. 

In spite of his doubts of these two people, poor 
Gaspard felt himself for the moment comforted 
by their geniality ; and when the footman came 
in to ask the Doctor to go to Miss Farebrother, 
the young man missed his cheery presence. 

“ Do you find your aunt much changed ? 
asked Mrs. Skates anxiously, as soon as her hus- 
band had left the room. 

“ Altogether changed,” replied Gaspard empha- 
tically. ‘‘ I never saw such a transformation in 
anybody. She used to be the warmest-hearted 
woman in the world. Now — I can’t understand 
it.” 

He started up, and began pacing up and down 
the room. Mrs. Skates looked rather alarmed ; 
and presently she told him she would go into the 
drawing-room and speak to Miss Farebrother, and 
try to make her more reasonable. 

‘H’m sure she doesn’t really mean to be un- 
kind. It’s only her way,” were her parting 
words. 

She did not leave him long by himself. Gas- 
pard was just looking at his watch, and wondering 
whether he should go out to engage a bed at an 
hotel rather than submit to any more snubs from 
his aunt, when Mrs. Skates re-entered the room, 
pounced upon him with a smiling face, and carried 
him back into the drawing-room. 


24 


A Desperate Game 

“I don’t know what you’re sulking about,” 
said his aunt, pettishly, the moment he came near 
her. “ You are very welcome to stay here as long 
as you please, of course, you and Michael. I’m 
only afraid you’ll find it rather dull. You were 
not much given to take life and higher things 
seriously, if I remember rightly.” 

owever I look upon life. Aunt,” said Gas- 
pard, with some spirit, I don’t intend to trespass 
upon your kindness if I’m not wanted here. 
Neither does Michael. We came expecting to 
find you as you were when we went away ; now 
you’re changed, and, I daresay, we are not so 
much to your taste as we used to be.” 

“ Oh, it’s of no use talking to him,” said Miss 
Farebrother, with a little irresponsible wave of 
the hand. ‘‘ Dear Doctor Skates, I should like 
you to read that chapter about the ‘ Spirit World 
Around us ’ once more, if you please.” 

Mrs. Skates did her best to entertain the young 
man until dinner-time. When they all met in the 
dining-room, Miss Farebrother did condescend to 
put up her long-handled eyeglasses, and to look 
for the first time approvingly at her nephew. 

‘‘You look well in evening dress,” she said 
shortly, as they sat down to dinner. “ You 
haven’t lost your good looks, Gaspard. He’s a 
handsome fellow, isn’t he, Blanche ? ” 

“Very, very handsome indeed,” said Mrs. 
Skates, with a gentle laugh. “ I was saying so to 
dear Jamie just now.” 

But the Doctor, who perhaps thought this topic 
frivolous, soon engrossed all Miss Farebrother’s 


25 


A Desperate Game 

conversation, so that again, and so long as dinner 
lasted, Gaspard was left to Mrs. Skates for enter- 
tainment. And he was so much disgusted with 
the whole business that he wished his aunt good- 
night, immediately dinner was over, and retired to 
his room on the plea of a cold in the head. 

He did not stay there, however, but went wan- 
dering about the house, recalling the merry games 
he and his brother had had there in their boyhood. 
Though the soft cooing tones of Mrs. Skates, 
hoping he would be better in the morning, still 
rang in his ear, though his hand still tingled with 
the warm grip the Doctor had given him, he felt 
lonely, miserable, and chilled by his aunt's cold- 
ness. 

He had wandered down into the passage out- 
side the drawing-room door, when he suddenly 
caught the sound of Dr. Skates' voice, speaking 
very angrily to his wife just inside the breakfast- 
room. 

Gaspard was drawing back, afraid of overhear- 
ing what they were saying, when suddenly the 
Doctor came out of the room, followed by Mrs. 
Skates. The Doctor and his wife both started a 
little at the meeting, and the former frowned. 
Mrs. Skates tried to smile, but the attempt was a 
failure. 

Your brother has come, Mr. Farebrother," 
said she. He is in the drawing-room." 

Gaspard started forward in delight and surprise 
and some bewilderment. 

What on earth had Michael been up to, for 
the manner of both the doctor and his wife to 


26 


A Desperate Game 

have become in such a short space of time so 
frigid ? He flung open the drawing-room door, 
and rubbed his eyes at the spectacle that met 
them. 


CHAPTER III 

Who was the solemn and priggish young man 
who, clad in the somber black of the deacon of a 
dissenting chapel, with his hair parted in the 
middle and brushed down, lank and smooth, on 
each side, was sitting, with folded hands and 
crossed knees, besides Miss Farebrother, and 
speaking to her in precise and didactic tones ? 

Surely this could not be Michael, merry, devil- 
may-care, impudent Michael, of the rattling 
tongue and the roguish eye ? 

Even the voice was changed ; the bubbling 
fun which seemed always ready to turn a speech 
into a laugh had disappeared from the flat tones 
in which he was now laying down the law ; and 
as for the twinkling black eyes which were such a 
feature of his face, the person who now sat gravely 
conversing on the subject of the weather wore a 
huge pair of tinted spectacles, which alone would 
have sufficed to transform him beyond recogni- 
tion. 

As Gaspard burst into the room, the young 
rascal held up his hand solemnly : — 

‘‘ I beg,'’ said he, ‘‘ that you will shut the door. 


A Desperate Game ^7 

I have an aversion to draughts, which I believe 
that my aunt shares ? 

And with all the impudence in the world, he 
turned his head stiffly towards Miss Farebrother. 

The old lady seemed to be rather taken aback 
by the unexpectedness of her younger nephew’s 
change of demeanor from the lively lad she re- 
membered. It was without any of her petulant 
air of injured dignity, and even with some touch 
of nervousness, that she said quickly, in answer 
to his question : — 

Oh, yes, I do, I do dislike draughts very 
much.” 

I have a distinct remembrance that you did 
share my own dislike to them,” said Michael, 
while his brother stared at him, with a dropping 
jaw. 

It was Miss Farebrother’s turn to stare. She 
turned to look full in the face of her younger 
nephew, and said shortly : — 

“ I don’t remember that you shared any of my 
tastes or dislikes before. You’ve changed a 
great deal since you went away, Michael.” 

Michael uttered a little laugh that was discreet 
and mirthless and subdued to his new charac- 
ter : — 

‘‘ Fortunately, dear Aunt,” said he, ‘‘ we all 
change as time goes on, and I am not alone in 
that respect. If I have toned down my former 
exuberance of spirits to a demeanor more in 
keeping with my present views of the seriousness 
of life and its responsibilities, I trust that you will 
not accord me the less approval on that account,” 


28 


A Desperate Game 

Miss Farebrother looked at him again, in a 
dazed way. It was evident that she would have 
liked to be cold and uncivil to him, as she had 
been to his elder brother; but the artful young 
man had taken her so completely by surprise, 
had held his assumed character of didactic and 
self-assertive prig so well, that she did not quite 
know how to meet him. 

‘‘ Well, I don't know," she muttered at last. 

I must say I think I preferred you as you were 
when you went away. These sudden and unpre- 
pared for changes are disconcerting. At any 
rate," she went on, raising her voice and turning 
with increased irritation upon poor Gaspard, 
“ your brother should have warned me of the 
alteration in you. Why didn’t you warn me, 
Gaspard ? " 

That young man stammered, grew red, did 
not know what to answer. But the imperturbable 
Michael placidly helped him through his diffi- 
culty. 

“No doubt," said he, “ Gaspard has not noted 
the change in me, if there is any change. What 
to you, aunt, appears disconcertingly sudden, 
may have been too gradual in his eyes to be noted 
at all." 

“ But those horrible glasses — when did you 
take to wearing those ? " asked Miss Farebrother 
sharply. 

“ Oh, recently, quite recently," replied Michael, 
with superb calm ; though Gaspard, who knew 
how very recent this freak was, could scarcely 
restrain a sudden impulse to burst out laughing. 


29 


A Desperate Game 

Miss Farebrother, who had regained some of the 
self-command of which her surprise had deprived 
her, went on with increasing asperity : 

‘‘ At any rate, you have gained amazingly in 
assurance. You almost ordered my friends, Dr. 
Skates and his wife, out of the room.’' 

‘‘ Pardon me, aunt, I think not, I trust not,” 
said the young rascal blandly. I merely sug- 
gested that I should like a few minutes’ conversa- 
tion with you, whom I have always looked upon 
as the nearest and dearest friend of my brother 
and myself, apart from these somewhat too as- 
siduous new friends of yours. I had no inten- 
tion of driving them away. Indeed, if I may 
use the expression, they may be said to have 
‘‘ bounced off” before I had well uttered my 
most gently-urged plea for a minute’s privacy 
with you.” 

His tone and stiff manner, as he uttered this 
long speech, and appeared to grow more priggish 
every moment, were so intensely though unde- 
signedly funny, that Gaspard had to walk away to- 
wards the farthest window, and Miss Farebrother 
herself began to laugh at him. 

Well, your impudence is amusing, at least,” 
said she. “ Only, once for all you must under- 
stand that I cannot allow you to be discourteous 
to my other guests. Dr. and Mrs. Skates have 
become very dear friends of mine — ” 

‘‘As, indeed, I trust they may soon be of mine 
also,” broke in the barefaced hypocrite politely. 
“ Gaspard, what is the matter with you ? ” he sud- 
denly said, turning abruptly to face his brother. 


3 ° A Desperate Game 

who was manifesting symptoms of approaching 
apoplexy. 

“ Oh, they will not suit Gaspard,’' said Miss 
Farebrother, who was disturbed out of her quiet 
routine oflife, puzzled by the anomalies presented 
by the different demeanor of her two nephews 
and not, perhaps, without qualms of conscience as 
to her recent intentions towards the children of 
her dead brother, to whose affection and care she 
did indeed, as the lads knew, owe all her own pros- 
perity. ‘‘ He was rude and unfriendly to them 
the moment he came in, and he was so unre- 
sponsive to the kindness of Mrs. Skates, who 
was doing her best to amuse him all dinner time, 
that when he had left us in what appeared to be a 
fit of the sulks, the poor lady actually burst 
into tears, and said she could not remain under 
the same roof with any one who treated her so 
cruelly.’’ 

Gaspard hurried across the room on learning 
this surprising news. 

I assure you, aunt,” he began. 

But he was interrupted by Michael, who, rais- 
ing a warning forefinger in an emphatic manner, 
wagged his head slowly from side to side, and said 
solemnly : 

‘‘ Refrain, refrain, Gaspard, from any such dis- 
play of unnecessary violence as is, I fear, in your 
mind. I am aware that these ebullitions of temper 
on your part are by no means infrequent, but ” 

But his brother could stand no more. 

Oh, shut up ! ” said he angrily, as he turned 
abruptly away. 


A Desperate Game 3i 

Miss Farebrother could not help laughing. 
Michael turned unblushingly towards her. 

“ I trust you will overlook this display of undis- 
ciplined feeling,” he said, as Gaspard fumed and 
stamped about the room, divided between a slight 
inclination to roar with laughter, and a stronger 
wish to punch his brother’s head. He is, in- 
deed, far from well, and to that cause alone you 
must attribute any apparent discourtesy on his part 
towards your charming friend.” 

“ He doesn’t look ill though,” said Miss Fare- 
brother. Indeed, I never saw him look half so 
well in his life.” 

“ The fact that he excused himself from your 
society and that of your friends, as you have told 
me, is sufficient proof that he is suffering,” per- 
sisted Michael, as he rose from his seat. 

‘‘Where are you going?” said Miss Fare- 
brother, quickly. 

“ Shall I now beg your friends to return, and 
apologize for what you appear to think they may 
have interpreted as an act of discourtesy on my 
part ? ” said Michael. 

Miss Farebrother looked from him to his 
brother and back again, and frowned a little. 

“ You may if you like,” said she rather shortly. 
“ And I think, if you will take my advice, you 
will both go off to bed now, and leave me to 
make it right with Dr. Skates and his wife. For 
to tell you the truth, Michael, I scarcely think 
your pedantic way of talk will be more to their 
taste than your brother’s sulkiness. You’re a 
very odd pair of young men.” 


3^ A Desperate Game 

Michael stopped to argue the point. 

“ While J am deeply grieved/' he began. 

Then Gaspard removed him bodily from the 
hearthrug and held out his hand to his aunt. 

“ Good night, aunt ; I suppose you won't let 
me kiss you," he said gruffly. 

While Miss Farebrother, with a sudden touch 
of feeling, was about to raise her little wrinkled 
yellow face, Michael cut in between the two and 
kissed her first on one cheek and then on the 
other, boldly winking at his brother over her head 
as he did so. 

Gaspard was so much taken aback by this piece 
of effrontery on his brother's part that he drew 
back hastily, and contented himself with a bow to 
Miss Farebrother as he shook hands with her. 

‘‘ Good night, my dear aunt," said Michael, as 
he retreated towards the door, ‘‘ I thank you, we 
thank you very sincerely for your most kind wel- 
come." 

Then he whisked his brother out of the room, 
and with a violent nudge of' his elbow, drew his 
attention to the fact that the door of the breakfast- 
room was open, and that Dr. and Mrs. Skates were 
sitting inside. 

Michael put his head into the room and said 
in his assumed solemn voice : 

“ I wish you a very good-night, dear Mrs. 
Skates, and you. Doctor, I am obliged to you for 
your great kindness in allowing me an interview 
of a few precious moments with my dear aunt. 
She is now most anxious to see you both again, 
and I trust you will forgive me for having kept 


33 


A Desperate Game 

her from your charming society to converse with 
her for a few moments about our private aifairs/' 

The doctor said nothing in answer to this tirade, 
but Mrs. Skates tried to smile graciously at him 
as she wished him good night. 

Michael withdrew, stalked solemnly up the 
stairs with his brother, and marched into Gaspard’s 
room with him without speaking. 

The door once closed, however, he threw him- 
self face downwards upon the bed and kicking out 
violently into the air, did his best to stifle the 
fierce explosion of laughter which convulsed him. 

Gaspard, however, was very angry, and he seized 
his brother by the coat-collar, and flung him into 
a little tubby armchair that stood near the fireplace, 
where a small fire had been lighted which burned 
rather dismally in the long unused grate. 

‘‘ What on earth do you mean by all this tom- 
foolery ? ” he asked impatiently. ‘‘ Isn’t it bad 
enough to be received as if we were a pair of 
thieves, without making things worse for us both 
by behaving like a confounded lunatic ? ” 

“ My good fellow, it’s you who are the con- 
founded lunatic, and I who am the incarnation of 
wisdom and good sense,” retorted Michael, re- 
covering himself a little, and wiping his eyes. 
“ However, we won’t discuss that. I’ve got some- 
thing more important to talk about. Gaspard, 
I’m in love ! ” 

His brother stopped short, and stared at him 
with all his eyes. He really began to think that 
something had occurred to upset the mental bal- 
ance of the erratic Michael. After a few mo- 
3 


34 


A Desperate Game 

merits’ consideration, however, he apparently 
decided that the young man’s follies had better 
be allowed to burn themselves out unheeded, and 
he resumed his walk up and down the room with 
a slight shrug of the shoulders, and a gesture of 
disdain. 

Michael would not be put off like this. He 
sprang at his brother, and cried, Do you hear. 
I’m in love ! In love ! In love ! ” 

“ Oh, I don’t care what you’re in,” said Gas- 
pard pettishly. 

“ Yes, you do. I’ll make you. Look here, 
old chap. I’m serious. Sit down and behave 
like a Christian, and I’ll tell you all about it.” 

‘‘ I don’t want to hear,” growled Gaspard. 
But his brother, with his usual energy, got his 
own way, wheeled him into the corner by the 
fireplace, ruffled up his own hair to get rid of the 
Puritanical appearance that annoyed his brother, 
and proceeded with an amazing tale. 

“ When I got out of the train at Cliffgate,” he 
said, “ I went into one of the hotels that I 
knew, and changed my clothes.” 

‘‘ I never noticed that you had taken your bag 
with you ! ” cried Gaspard. 

‘‘ No. Because I managed that you shouldn’t 
see it as I got out ; I put it under my rug,” said 
Michael. Well, I changed my clothes, and 
found I had a couple of hours to wait for the 
next train. So I wandered up the back streets of 
the town — you know how dead-and-alive they 
are now, out of the season — and presently I 
came upon a little dusty shop, quite on the out- 


A Desperate Game 35 

skirts, where they had a few curiosities and a lot 
of second-hand books in the window. I saw an 
ancient copy of Daudet’s Le Nabab,” and think- 
ing I should like to read it again, I went in, and 
found nobody in the shop. Of course I didn’t 
care much whether I had the book or not, but 
you know how anxious one always is to get a 
thing when there is any obstacle put in the way. 
And I was not in the best of tempers to start 
with, so I thumped on the counter, and banged 
the only chair on the floor, and made such a devil 
of a row that presently I heard some one scatter- 
ing down the stairs at a great rate. And there 
ran into the shop not a woman, Gaspard — oh, no ! 
But the prettiest little fluffy-headed piece of 
Dresden china you ever saw. She looked awfully 
frightened — thought it was an army of Hooligans 
at least — and she- asked what I wanted in the 
prettiest frightened way. 

“ She was so pretty, and looked so unlike 
what I had expected to find in the tumble-down 
old shop, that I stammered and couldn’t remem- 
ber what on earth it was I did want. Then she 
took a step back in an offended manner, as if to 
go away again, and I suddenly cried out that I 
wanted a book in the window, and took out some 
money. 

Then she turned very red, and asked if I 
would wait while she called the person the shop 
belonged to, and I was ready to sink into the 
earth. 'Of course I might have known this fairy 
didn’t keep a second-hand bookshop. So I 
stammered, apologized, made an awful fool of my- 


3^ A Desperate Game 

self, and I while was at it, in walked a tall, middle- 
aged woman with long ringlets and a little red 
nose, and thanked the Dresden china girl for com- 
ing down. 

‘‘ Dresden china smiled, blushed again, said 
she didn’t mind, and ran up-stairs. 

‘‘ And the middle-aged woman told me the girl 
had lived in the rooms above for three or four 
years with her father, an old half-pay army man. 
Captain or Major something — till he died, and 
that she had been living on there ever since, be- 
cause she’d nowhere else to go except to the house 
of some relations, whom she didn’t much like, 
and who didn’t seem very anxious to have 
her.” 

When he came to this point in his narrative, 
Michael sat up on the bed and threw up his eyes. 

“ Not anxious to have her ! ” he repeated, em- 
phatically. “ Not anxious to have her. Good 
Heavens I What must the creatures be like that 
didn’t want to have a divinity like that among 
them ! But, then, the keeper of the shop sug- 
gested that these people had sons, and that my 
beauty was too good-looking. Now there may 
be something in that, of course,” went on Michael, 
judicially. ‘‘ But, it’s the sort of fault that might 
well be forgiven, I think, considering how un- 
common it is ! ” 

Gaspard was staring at him feebly, with a frown 
of amazement on his face. 

And you mean to tell me,” he said, solemnly, 
when his brother paused for breath, that at a 
time like this, when our very means of subsistence 


37 


A Desperate Game 

are threatened, you can fool about and twaddle on 
about a girl whom you’ve seen once in a second- 
hand bookshop ! ” 

And his tone grew loftier, and his chin rose 
gradually higher as he spoke. 

“ My dear fellow, there is between this partic- 
ular girl in a second-hand bookshop (where she 
only happened to be by chance) and all other 
girls in all other second-hand bookshops the dif- 
ference there is between chalk and cheese — and a 
vast deal more ! I tell you she’s peerless, divine, 
and the thought that she’s hesitating between giv- 
ing music lessons and going on the stage makes 
me sick ! ” 

“ Well, so it does me,” said his brother drily, 
“ so suppose we change the subject.” 

Michael sighed, rose slowly from the bed, and 
putting himself as close to the fender as he could 
without being singed, drew up his knees, hugged 
them tenderly, and rested his chin on the top. 

‘‘ What’s the use of changing it,” he asked, 
meditatively, when we can’t find another half as 

* ^ yy 

nice r 

Oh, stuff! ” said Gaspard, angrily. ‘‘ Look 
here, Michael, you’ve made a fool of yourself, 
and you’re making a fool of me. You can’t keep 
up this confounded masquerade of yours, and 
presently the disguise will fall off with a rush, 
you’ll give yourself away for a humbug, and we 
shall both be discredited together.” 

Instead of making any polite rejoinder to this, 
Michael stuck out his chin and began to whistle. 

Gaspard stamped with rage. 


38 


A Desperate Game 

Why can’t you answer me, idiot ? ” he cried 
impatiently. 

My dear brother, I’m not an idiot, and I 
have nothing to answer,” said Michael superbly. 
“ Your own common sense ought to tell you that 
we have a careful game to play here. If these 
people, these Skateses, are all right — ^which they’re 
not,” — added he in a sepulchral parenthesis, “ then 
my masquerade, as you call it, will be just a joke 
and nothing more. But if they’re not all right, 
as I strongly believe, then my masquerading will 
give us a chance against their masquerading. As 
it is, you must admit that she received me in my 
character of unmitigated prig better than she did 
you in your character of ordinary young man. 
So there you are, don’t you know ! ” 

But Gaspard would not be convinced. 

“ It’s a disgusting business,” he said gloomily, 
‘‘ and I’ve a good mind to take myself off without 
waiting for further developments.” 

“ All right. Go if you like. I don’t budge 
until I’ve cleared out the doctor ! ” 

Gaspard planted himself by the mantelpiece, 
where he could get a look at his brother’s face. 

After all, what right have we to suspect these 
people ? ” said he. “ The woman seems a nice 
woman, and we have no right to make up our 
minds that there’s anything wrong with either of 
them. Aunt has a right to choose her own 
friends, and if she likes to have them stay with 
her, why shouldn’t she ? This big house must be 
precious lonely when there’s nobody in it but the 
servants and herself ! ” 


39 


A Desperate Game 

W ell, mv sweet youth, have it your own way. 
We’ll say the dear doctor and his charming wife 
have no intentions but the best ; we’ll say that I’m 
a humbug, and that you’re a discontented, cross- 
grained young jackanapes. But I persist in my 
opinion that things look very fishy for us, and that 
if we don’t keep our eyes open we shall find our- 
selves left in the lurch, and ousted from all share 
either in Aunt’s affection or Aunt’s money. And 
you know as well as I do that, whether we have 
a right to the affection or not, we have indubitably 
a right to the money.” 

Gaspard said nothing, but he shrugged his 
shoulders with an uneasy frown. It was quite 
true that they had a right to expect that Miss 
Farebrother would keep her promise, made to 
their father, that they should inherit the money 
which he had saved for her. But he felt humil- 
iated, irritated at the position in which they were 
thrown, and he was burning to find an excuse for 
getting away from ‘‘ The Abbey,” even at the 
risk of the loss of all his prospects. 

So he said nothing, and there was a short silence. 

At the end of a few seconds, however, Michael, 
who was still squatting before the fire, raised his 
head and looked intently at the clock over the 
mantelpiece. Gaspard opened his mouth to speak, 
but was stopped by a rapid gesture from his 
brother. Then, still without uttering a word, 
Michael began to draw himself, with a quiet, 
shuffling movement, rapidly in the direction of 
the door. Having reached it, he put his finger 
on his lip, and listened. Then, springing up 


4° A Desperate Game 

suddenly, he threw open the door, and was out 
of the room in an instant. 

“ Who are you ? What are you doing here ? ” 
Gaspard heard him call out sharply. 

There was no answer. Only a sound of 
shuffling and scuffling, stumbling, struggling. 

“ Gaspard ! A light, quick ! 

But before Gaspard had had time to light a 
candle at the gas and to take it into the corridor 
outside, he heard an abrupt exclamation in his 
brother’s voice, and then next moment there was 
a fall. He reached the door in time to see 
Michael getting up from the floor with a red and 
angry face. 

What was it ? ” asked Gaspard breathlessly. 

Don’t know,” growled Michael, but it was 
an eavesdropper, aud one with a very powerful 
fist.” 

And, ruefully rubbing his arms and his legs, 
Michael followed his brother back into the bed- 
room. 

“ Now, are you satisfied that there are enemies 
in the camp ? ” he asked sullenly, as he stood 
with his back against the door. 

But Gaspard persisted that absolute proof was 
still wanting on which to accuse the doctor and 
his wife. Several of the servants were new, and 
it might have been one of these whom Michael 
had caught listening at the door. 

But say what he would, the elder brother felt no 
more comfortable than the younger ; and when 
they separated for the night, and Michael-retired to 
his room, which was on the opposite side of the 


41 


A Desperate Game 

comdor, both brothers were in the lowest of 
spirits, and one at least was inclined, to use his 
own expression, to throw up the sponge.” 


CHAPTER IV 

With the morning light, as usual, came brighter 
prospects, and pleasanter thoughts. The two 
young men, when they came down to breakfast, 
found only Dr. and Mrs. Skates in the breakfast- 
room, as Miss Farebrother had of late taken the 
first meal of the day in her own apartment. 

Both the doctor and his wife, however, were so 
genial, so amusing and agreeable, that the brothers 
found their doubts of the pair growing weaker, 
and recognized how natural it was that their aunt 
should have been anxious to have these bright 
people in the same house with her. 

Mrs. Skates wanted to know what they would 
like to do with themselves. Would they come 
out for a drive with her ? Or would they go out 
to the golf-links with the doctor ? Or 

Before she had finished her speech, she was in- 
terrupted by the entrance of Miss Farebrother’s 
maid, a tall, thin, sly-looking person whom the 
brothers had never^seen before. She brought a 
message from Miss Farebrother to Michael, ask- 
ing if he would go up-stairs and see his aunt in 
her boudoir before she went out. 

Gaspard noticed, though he disliked himself 
for not being able to help an instinct of the spy. 


42 


A Desperate Game 

that both the doctor and Mrs. Skates looked for 
a moment disturbed and displeased by this mes- 
sage. 

Michael, who had throughout the meal pre- 
served his assumed air of profound priggishness, 
told the maid that he would not fail to fulfil his 
aunt’s request ; then he threw a swift glance at 
his brother and cast down his eyes as before. 

Gaspard seized his arm as soon as he left the 
room, and hurried him out by a side-door into 
the garden. 

“ I say,” he said, in good-humored remon- 
strance, ‘‘ I do wish you’d drop that sanctimonious 
tone of yours ! There’s really no point in it, you 
know, since there’s no trace of it about Skates or 
his wife.” 

“You wait a bit,” retorted Michael. “Trust 
me, Gaspard ; I’m a lot cleverer than you think ! ” 

And, breaking away from his brother, he went 
back into the house, and stalked solemnly up the 
stairs to his aunt’s little pink and cream-colored 
sitting-room, where Miss Farebrother, looking, in 
her white woolen dressing-gown trimmed with 
soft white fur, like a withered little fluffy chicken, 
put out a little yellow claw to greet him. 

“ I want to have a talk with you, Michael. 
You puzzle me,” said she. 

Michael prudently bowed in submission to her 
pleasure, but made no remark. She went on : — 

“ Sit down — no, not there. Sit in the light, 
where I can see you.” Michael moved sedately 
to a chair, and sat down opposite a window, 
“Now I want to understand you. Is this serious 


43 


A Desperate Game 

and solemn way you have got genuine or not ? 
Michael coughed gently, wondering whether he 
should confess. He would have liked to do so, 
would have liked to have a hearty laugh with his 
aunt, as he remembered her in the old days, to 
kiss and be friends. But it would not do to be 
rash ; so he hesitated ; and her next words proved 
that his hesitation was well founded. Now, Dr. 
Skates,’* she went on, “ I tell you frankly, says 
your prim ways are put on.” 

Then Michael spoke very stiffly. 

I’m afraid Dr. Skates does not shine in the 
virtue of the charity that thinketh no evil ! ” 

His aunt drew herself up. 

“ On the contrary, he is a most noble and good 
man, one of the best I have ever met. I have 
the greatest confidence in him, the very greatest ; 
and one of the reasons why I wished to see you 
this morning was to speak to you about him and 
his wife, and to ask you to disabuse your brother’s 
mind of any prejudice he may have against either 
of them ! ” 

She looked very earnestly, as she said these 
words, at her nephew, who kept a grave face, but 
felt much amused at the way in which his aunt 
had reversed the real positions of himself and his 
brother in this matter. 

In the midst of his secret amusement, however, 
there flashed into the young man’s mind a certain 
vivid suspicion that his aunt was speaking apolo- 
getically, nay guiltily. He noticed that she red- 
dened a little as he turned his eyes full upon her 
through his glasses. 


44 


A Desperate Game 

“ I sincerely trust,” said he, that you will dis- 
abuse your mind of the idea that we are unduly 
prejudiced against your friends. But he has 
scarcely chosen the way to ingratiate himself with 
us, in objecting to my taking serious views of life 
especially as I understand he takes serious views 
of life himself.” 

“ But he doesn’t obtrude them upon people by 
a lugubrious tone and ponderous manner, as you 
do,” went on his aunt, growing quite excited in 
her earnestness. ‘‘ On the contrary, he is, as you 
must have seen, a delightful and genial companion. 
His views about the spirit world around us ” — 
Michael pricked up his ears — “ he keeps to him- 
self. He never alludes to them but in the society 
of those who sympathize with his beliefs.” 

“ And what particular beliefs does he then favor, 
Aunt? ” asked Michael, assuming an air of pro- 
found, not to say ponderous attention, as he 
clasped his hands over one knee, and frowned 
portentously. 

Miss Farebrother hesitated. 

‘‘ Oh — er — well, he — he did not wish me to say 
anything about them to you. He is very modest, 
the dear Doctor.” 

‘‘ His modesty. Aunt, does him honor,” re- 
joined Michael solemnly. “ Still I should much 
like to hear his views, since I gather that they 
have, in some measure, become yours, and I have 
a notion they will be found to coincide with my 
own.” 

“ Indeed ? ” said Miss Farebrother, in a lower 
tone. She looked at him for a few moments 


A Desperate Game 45 

silently, and then added, in a lower voice, almost 
timidly : But not, I think, with Gaspard’s ? 

Michael waved his hand. 

There are,” said he gravely, “ differences be- 
tween Gaspard and myself. — Whether he and I 
have exactly the same conception of the functions 
of the spirit-world — whether, in short, we hold the 
same views upon what the world calls spiritualism ” 
— he saw by the slight start his aunt gave that he 
had made a shrewd guess — “ is of small conse- 
quence, since we remain good friends in spite of the 
divergence of our opinions. But I should greatly 
like to hear more about this good doctor’s views, 
or perhaps I may even say — powers ? ” 

Miss Farebrother grew strangely agitated, in- 
terested, excited. It was easy for her nephew to 
see how strong the doctor had made his hold upon 
the old lady by the means now suggested. 

You may well say powers,” she whispered. 
‘‘ Michael, I have seen and heard such things, 
under the doctor’s guidance, that I could not tell 
you of. You would not believe me ! ” 

“ From an irresponsible person I might not in- 
deed believe them,” said her nephew blandly, 
“but from you I should know them to be true. 
So he holds intercourse with the spirits for your 
benefit ? ” 

“ And for the benefit of all who are in distress 
or difficulty,” went on Miss Farebrother, quickly. 
“ These spirits materialize and tell us of such 
cases, such dreadful cases of distress, as would 
never come to our poor mortal ears without their 


4^ A Desperate Game 

“ And so,*' said Michael, bending forward with 
respectful attention, “ you are able to assist these 
sad cases, with the help of the good doctor ? ” 

“ Yes, yes, that’s it, Michael. The dear crea- 
ture will go miles to carry help to a poor or sick 
person, will take them money — ” 

Your money ? ” suggested Michael as a mat- 
ter of course. 

‘‘Yes. Unluckily the dear creatures are not 
rich. But they are not poor either. For every 
two sovereigns I give they give one. You see, 
Michael, I cannot be as freehanded as he would 
like me to be, because I look upon my money as 
held in trust for you boys, according to my prom- 
ise to your father, to whom I owe all the happiness 
and comfort I have had in life.” 

Michael inclined his head, unable to speak. 
For he was deeply touched by this sudden reve- 
lation of his aunt’s heart, while at the same time 
he felt within him a blind rage against the two 
persons who, he was now sure, had been using 
the most questionable means to obtain an undue 
influence over the poor lady. For one moment 
he again hesitated, as to whether he should blurt 
out his real opinions, but prudence warned him 
that to do so would be to forfeit the place he 
seemed to be getting in her favor by the course 
he was pursuing. 

“ And see,” she went on, “ the good man has 
had a vast experience of life ” 

“ I believe you ! ” thought Michael to himself. 

“ And he will be a good friend to you lads, who 
have had none.” 


47 


A Desperate Game 

“ One learns experience abroad. Aunt,” put in 
her nephew. 

‘‘ Not such wide knowledge as his,” said Miss 
Farebrother earnestly, I repeat, he will be a 
better, wiser protector and guardian to you than 
I can be, and you will be glad, when you know 
him better, that — that — ” 

Perhaps there was a look in Michael’s eye 
which made her pause. At any rate she did not 
finish her sentence, but sat back in her chair, 
trembling a little, and nothing more was said until 
her nephew asked, as if casually : 

Does Mr. Buckle know the Skateses, Aunt ? ” 

Miss Farebrother started, and began to fidget 
in her chair. 

Now Mr. Buckle was the senior partner of the 
firm of lawyers who had had Miss Farebrother’s 
business in their hands for any number of years. 

Well, er — er — I don’t know — I don’t remem- 
ber — What makes you ask such a question ? ” she 
said, suddenly breaking out into irritability. 

Michael knew all he wanted to know, so he at 
once turned the subject. 

‘‘ Oh, never mind,” said he carelessly. ‘‘ We 
will converse upon a subject more interesting. 
These manifestations.” Miss Farebrother looked 
round her and seemed to shiver a little. ‘‘ I 
trust I shall be favored by being permitted to be 
present at one of them.” 

“Well, I — I don’t know. He didn’t want me 
to mention the matter to you,” murmured Miss 
Farebrother nervously. “ He had fixed a seance 
for to-night, but we had given up the idea on 


4^ A Desperate Game 

learning you were coming. You see some 
people — ” she stopped. 

“ Some people have no sympathy with these 
deeply interesting subjects, and until you had 
learnt our views you could not be sure of ours,” 
said Michael, taking up the sentence quite natu- 
rally. 

“And Tm sure Gaspard would never — ” she 
began quickly. 

“ Probably he might be unsympathetic. Then 
we would not request his presence at the manifes- 
tation. But as for me, dear aunt, I must beg 
you will insist on the good doctor’s giving the pro- 
posed seance to-night, as intended, and in allowing 
me to participate in the undoubted interest and 
benefit to be derived from communing with the 
denizens of the unseen world.” 

Shaking with nervous excitement, the old lady 
said in a low voice : “ And when you have heard 
— what you will hear, dear boy, will you be as 
ready to help as 1 am, as ready to forward the 
cause of noble charity in the world. Then I shall 
feel easier, when you consent to my giving.” 

Michael could scarcely bear this. For the old 
lady began to tap his sleeve gently, happy in the 
belief that she had a partner and helper now in 
what she believed was a noble work of mercy and 
universal kindness. 

There was a moment’s silence, and before they 
spoke again, there came a gentle knock at the 
door^ and Mrs. Skates’ cooing, caressing voice 
asked : 

“ May I come in, dearest ? ” 


A Desperate Game 49 

Miss Farebrother started, and Michael drew 
himself back in his chair. Mrs. Skates glided 
smiling into the room, and gave the old lady 
the morning’s greetings. She noticed the agita- 
tion from which she was suffering, and said : 

“ I’m afraid your nephew has been letting you 
talk too much, dear. You seem nervous this 
morning.” 

Miss Farebrother said quickly, Oh, my dear, 
no ! If I’m excited, it is with pleasure. Michael 
is as much interested in our interests as we are, 
Blanche, and he insists that we shall hold our 
seance to-night, and that he shall be present. 
You’ve got to tell the dear doctor.” 

Michael did not at first see the face of the good 
doctor’s wife, as she had her back to him. But 
when presently she turned in his direction, her 
complexion was still a light green. 

And he knew he had scored one peg in the 
game. 


CHAPTER V 

If Mrs. Skates was discomposed, however 
by Miss Farebrother’s desire that the spiritualistic 
seance should be given that evening with Michael 
among the audience, she had tact enough not to 
allow any trace of her uneasiness to appear in her 
manner. Only that curious and unpreventible 
change in the tints of her complexion betrayed 
that anything was wrong with her. 

4 


so 


A Desperate Game 

“ Very well, dearest,” she said, ‘‘ I’m so glad 
your dear nephews are interested in these matters, 
too, so very glad. I must go and tell the dear 
doctor. But first I must look after you.” 

And she began fussing about the old lady, 
drawing more closely round her shoulders the 
little shawl of soft, white wool which she wore, 
putting her footstool nearer, and then pulling 
down one of the blinds a little way, to soften the 
glare of the bright early spring sunshine. 

‘‘ Oh, never mind me, Blanche. I’m all right, 
thank you.” 

But Mrs. Skates planted herself in front of the 
little old lady, put her head on one side, and 
shook it gently. 

I don’t think you are,” said she sweetly. 

You know it’s not good for you to excite your- 
self with too much talking. I really,” she went 
on playfully, ‘‘ shall have to send your dear 
nephew away. And then I must ring for Anson, 
and tell her to bring you ” 

Miss Farebrother interrupted with an impatient 
frown. 

‘‘ I don’t like that Anson,” she said petulantly. 
“ I never have liked her from the first moment 
you brought her from town. She’s very plain, 
for one thing, and I dislike plain people. And 
then her eyes are too close together, and I be- 
lieve she ferrets in my drawers. I don’t like her 
at all.” 

Mrs. Skates kept up her rather stereotyped 
smile while this accusation was brought against 
the maid of her choosing ; but she said : 


A Desperate Game 5^ 

Well, dearest, if you don't like her, you can 
easily give her a month's notice, you know ! " 

‘‘ But I don't want to have her about me for 
another month," protested the old lady. ‘‘ I 
should like her to go away at once. I am sorry 
now you persuaded me to send away old 
Perkins." 

Mrs. Skates darted a rapid glance at Michael : 
but he was sitting bolt upright in front of a little 
side-table, apparently absorbed in the exciting joys 
of an album of alpine scenery. The ladies might 
have been discussing a pattern in crochet or the 
price of poultry for all the interest he showed. 

But he did hear. And he did note these 
words, and he understood now how it was that 
dear old Perkins, the kindest-hearted creature 
and most devoted servant in the world, had given 
place to the sinister-looking Anson, to whom he 
had already taken a strong dislike. 

Mrs. Skates answered in a purring tone : 

“Well, dearest, I did it all for the best. It 
seemed to me that our dearest Mrs. Perkins was 
getting somewhat too old for the work of look- 
ing after you properly, and — " 

“Oh, I'm not such an invalid as all that," said 
Miss Farebrother rather fretfully. 

“ Invalid ! No, no. Heaven forbid," cried 
Mrs. Skates fervently. “ But you're such a pre- 
cious treasure to us all — " and she turned to 
Michael with a smile which he did not return, 
“ that I'm sure your dear nephew will agree with 
me in saying that none but the very best care is 
good enough for you.” 


5 ^ 


A Desperate Game 

As Michael had not moved his head or allowed 
himself to be drawn into the discussion, his aunt 
addressed him : 

“ You remember Perkins, Michael ? ” 

“ Certainly I do. Aunt.” 

“Well, didn’t you like her face better than 
Anson’s ? ” 

But before he could answer, Mrs. Skates broke 
in quickly : 

“ There’s no question of comparing their faces. 
If you don’t like Anson, she must go, no matter 
how worthy, how devoted she may be ! And I 
will look out for another lady’s-maid — ” 

But Miss Farebrother interrupted quickly : 

“ No, no, I don’t want another. I can do 
without a maid: I’d rather. I hate fresh faces 
about me.” 

“ But — ” 

“ What I want done for me I’ll have done by 
Jarman. I know her, and I’m used to her.” 

“ But she’s only a parlor-maid,” urged Mrs. 
Skates softly. “ She’s hardly experi ” 

But Miss Farebrother was obstinate. By the 
quick and restless glances which she threw in his 
direction, Michael began to surmise that it was 
the fact of his presence which gave the old lady 
courage to assert her own will against the friend 
who was gradually becoming a tyrant. 

“ I’ll try Jarman, at any rate,” she said. “ And 
now, Blanche, I wish you’d go and speak to the 
doctor about this evening.” 

“ Very well, dear,” said Mrs. Skates, in her 
gentle voice. And this handsome, comfortable- 


A Desperate Game S3 

looking elderly lady, in her soft gray morning 
gown with the delicate lace which she, regardless 
of fashion, wore like a cap on her head and 
fastened under her chin by a tiny brooch, walked 
obediently to the door. 

As she passed Michael, he rose stiffly, and 
opened the door for her. She smiled serenely at 
him ; but sugary as she was, Michael had a sort 
of feeling that the long filbert nails on her plump 
white hands were longing to scratch his eyes out. 

Left alone with his aunt, Michael stalked primly 
back to the hearth-rug. 

I am entirely of your opinion. Aunt, concern- 
ing the exchange of old Perkins for your pres- 
ent maid. May I ask whether you obtained her 
services through the medium of Miss Burns at 
the wool shop ? ” 

Now Miss Burns, of the wool shop, and her 
sister and her niece formed an institution of which 
St. Mary's-on-Sea was proud. They were the 
proprietors of a library ; they were reported to 
be able to match any shade of wool, silk, or span- 
gles ever yet produced, and they had an agency 
for governesses, companions, and servants, which 
deservedly held the very highest character. 

Miss Farebrother answered quickly : 

‘‘No, I wish I had.” 

“ Then do you not think,” suggested he, “ that 
it would be as well for me to call on Miss Burns, 
and endeavor to ascertain whether she cannot 
provide you with a competent maid, and to re- 
place the one you wish to send away ? ” 

“ But I don’t want to have to wait a month be- 


54 


A Desperate Game 

fore I get rid of her,” said Miss Farebrother, in 
a low voice. “ I don’t like to say all I felt before 
Blanche, for fear of hurting her feelings, as it was 
she who engaged Anson. But really I dislike 
the woman so much, and I’m so sure she turns 
my things over and pries about, that I hate the 
sight of her, and should like to send her away 
this very day.” 

“ That can be easily done,” said Michael. 
‘‘ Since Mrs. Skates engaged her you can insist 
that Mrs. Skates shall send her away forthwith. 
Offer her two months’ wages instead of one, if she 
will go to-day. If you put it like that to Mrs. 
Skates, and insist, I think you will find she will 
accede to your wishes.” 

By the look of relief that appeared in the little 
old lady’s eyes, Michael was able to guess how 
much the presence of this unsympathetic woman 
about her had ruffled and annoyed the spoilt old 
lady. 

‘‘In the meantime I will go to Miss Burns — ” 
he began. 

But his aunt interrupted him. 

“ Do you know, Michael,” she said in the same 
low voice as before, as if afraid of being overheard, 
“that I think I would really rather let Jarman do 
my hair, and not have a new maid at all. What 
I should like would be to have a companion, a 
lady, and a young one if possible. Do you think 
Miss Burns could find me one I should really 
like ? ” 

Michael had turned his head away, to hide his 
face, the muscles of which he felt were not alto- 


55 


A Desperate Game 

gather under his control. For an idea had oc- 
curred to him, such a bright, such a magnificent 
one, that he felt sure it must be shining in his 
eyes. 

‘‘ I have no doubt, Aunt,^’ said he, ‘‘ that Miss 
Burns will use her best endeavors to satisfy your 
requirements. I will lay the matter before her in 
your own words. In the meantime, allow me to 
suggest that you should be very imperative in de- 
siring Mrs. Skates to dismiss the woman Anson 
immediately.” 

“ Oh, I will, I will,” cried his aunt. And — 
and you’ll support me, won’t you, if she makes 
any objection ? ” 

Michael was touched, but he took care not to 
show it. He gravely assured his aunt that he an- 
ticipated no difficulties, and solemnly left her, to 
go on his errand. 

In the meantime Mrs. Skates had hastened 
down to her husband with her very unwelcome 
tidings. She found the Doctor and Gaspard still 
in the breakfast-room, the latter laughing heartily 
at some humorous story her husband had just 
told him. 

Although she appeared to make no sign to her 
husband, but just came up and stood placidly by 
without a word, it was curious that the doctor at 
once divined that something important had to be 
communicated to him. He got up abruptly, and 
went to the window, where his wife presently fol- 
lowed him, and then, with a word to Gaspard, the 
doctor opened the window and went out. 

He and Mrs. Skates had scarcely exchanged a 


5^ A Desperate Game 

dozen words when Gaspard saw the doctor turn 
purple with anger, and make a movement as if to 
shake his fist in the air. His wife, however, 
soothed him and silenced him, and it suddenly 
occurred to Gaspard, who had thought of follow- 
ing them out for a walk through the grounds, that 
there was something very suggestive of a couple 
of conspirators in the manner of the pair. 

Again disturbed and perplexed by these sur- 
mises, just as he had been persuading himself that 
all was right with these pleasant people after all, 
Gaspard went out of the breakfast-room, and put- 
ting on his hat and overcoat, after learning from 
the footman that his brother had gone out, he left 
the house, and turned towards the town. 

The air was crisp and cold, and the sun was 
shining. It was too early yet for the buds to have 
appeared on the trees, but there was a brightness 
in sea and sky which seemed to herald the coming 
of Spring. 

Gaspard met a few people whom he recognized, 
but none to whom he cared to talk, until, turning 
into the road that led straight into the little town, 
he came in sight of his brother returning from it. 

‘‘ Michael ! cried he, in surprise, “ where have 
you been ? And why didn’t you tell me you were 
going out ? ” 

‘‘ Well, I couldn’t wait,” replied Michael, who 
had for the time put away his spectacles, and who 
wore an air of intense excitement. ‘‘ I had im- 
portant business on hand, and if I had met you, 
I should have had to talk for an hour, as I shall 
have to now.” 


57 


A Desperate Game 

What about ? 

Oh, need you ask ? I’ve got my aunt to in- 
sist that that old arch-humbug Skates shall give a 
spiritualistic manifestation to-night, and I’m to be 
there.” 

‘‘ What ! ” cried Gaspard, aghast. Does he 
do that sort of thing ? Are you sure ? ” 

“ He does that, and probably every other sort 
of thing that’s knavish and base,” retorted Michael. 
“ That’s how he’s been getting round the poor 
old lady ; that’s the means he uses for getting 
money out of her. It’s the spirits who order her 
to ‘ shell out,’ and the dear doctor is their very 
able lieutenant for the dispenser of her charities. 
Do you see ? ” 

Gaspard was appalled. 

But you can’t be sure of this ! ” said he. 

“ I can. Aunt told me so.” 

Both were silent for a few moments. Gaspard 
felt sick. After the friendly talk he had just had 
with the doctor, after the merry hour they had 
spent together over Skates’ stories, the young man 
felt as if a douche of cold water had been unex- 
pectedly applied to him. 

They had turned back towards the little town, 
in order to be able to have their talk out before 
returning to the Abbey. As they passed the end 
of a little side road, where desirable villa residences, 
in red brick with stucco ornaments, flourished in 
staring rows, they heard an exclamation in a voice 
which they recognized at once as that of the Vicar’s 
wife, whose letter had brought them over the seas. 


A Desperate Game 

“ Good gracious, Gaspard, how youVe al- 
tered ! ” 

Both the young men turned with alacrity, de- 
lighted beyond measure to hear at last a voice they 
knew, a voice which belonged to a real friend. 

But as they turned, and Mrs. Chalmers caught 
sight of Michael's plastered-down hair and 
Methodistical get-up, she uttered a little cry and 
stared at him in amazement. 

“ And you, too ! Why, Michael, is it really 
you ? " 

Michael nodded and laughed as he shook 
hands. 

‘‘ It's really both of us," he said. ‘‘ I suppose 
you mean that I've changed for the worse, as 
much as Gaspard has changed for the better ? " 

The Vicar's wife, a round-faced, plump person, 
with shrewd, good-humored eyes, shook hands 
with both rather shyly. 

“ I've been worrying myself to death about you 
two," she said in a lower voice, as she went to- 
wards the town with them. The Vicar's been 
scolding me for my bringing you back ever since 
I got your letter four days ago, saying you had 
both returned in consequence of my writing to 
you. Now do tell me, boys, are things all right 
up at the Abbey ? " 

“ I think they're all wrong," said Michael 
simply. “ Gaspard is inclined to doubt it, but I 
don't think you will be when you've heard what 
I found out this morning." 

But why are you got up in this extraordinary 


59 


A Desperate Game 

way, Michael ? Have you taken to field-preach- 
ing, or what ? ” 

“ Well, no, not exactly,” stammered Michael, 
who guessed that his “ masquerading ” would 
meet with scant favor at the Vicarage. ‘‘ But I’ve 
thought it necessary to tone myself down a little, 
to counterbalance Gaspard’s frivolity.” 

The Vicar’s wife stared from the one to the 
other. 

‘‘ He never used to be frivolous,” she said 
dubiously. “ It was you, Michael, who were 
inclined to be wild.” 

“ Well, I’ve reformed, you see,” said he. 

‘‘ And now tell me about your aunt,” said Mrs. 
Chalmers, who had been evidently nervous since 
the beginning of the interview. ‘‘At least, no, 
wait till we get to the Vicarage. The Vicar’s at 
home by this time, and you shall tell us all the 
news when we are both together. Then he can’t 
say I’ve been filling your head with mischievous 
notions. That’s what he’s been saying the last 
few days,” she added rather dismally. 

So they all turned into a side road that led to 
the old house on the clilf, which the young men 
both remembered as a favorite playground of 
their boyhood’s days. 

“ How’s Madeline ? ” asked Gaspard, suddenly. 

“Oh, she’s quite well,” said Madeline’s mother, 
as she opened the gate between the high ever- 
greens. 

“ Altered, I suppose, though ? Why she must 
be quite grown up ! ” said Gaspard. 

“ Oh, no, she isn’t,” laughed Mrs. Chalmers, 


6o 


A Desperate Game 

as she led the way up the drive ; she’s just the 
same — pinafores and all.” 

At that very moment a couple of heads ap- 
peared at one of the big bay-windows on the 
ground floor of the house, and Gaspard reddened 
as he raised his hat. The next moment the door 
was opened, and a group of three young people — 
a sturdy small boy, a girl to match, and Madeline 
herself, stood on the steps, with excitement in 
their eyes. 

‘‘ Gaspard Farebrother ! Michael ! ” cried the 
younger ones. 

But Madeline said nothing ; she only smiled 
her welcome, and blushed as her pretty blue eyes 
met those of the young men. 

Now Mrs. Chalmers was quite wrong. Made- 
line had altered a good deal during the two years 
that had passed since she, then a girl of seventeen, 
bade good-by to Gaspard, then a lad of twenty- 
two. True, she was still allowed to wear her hair 
down, tied simply with a broad black ribbon ; 
true, she still wore simply-made frocks of no 
particular shape, much in the fashion of those she 
had worn two years before. But these frocks had 
gradually been lengthening, and the blue eyes which 
met Gaspard’s with s\ich a sweet look of greeting 
were those not of a big child, but of a lovely 
young woman. 

And Gaspard was conscious of the difference, 
conscious of a sudden bashfulness, of an inability 
to find any remarks more new and sparkling than. 

How do you do. Miss Madeline ? ” 

It had been plain Madeline ” and “ Gaspard ” 


6i 


A Desperate Game 

in the old days. But now the girl said in reply : 

How do you do, Mr.. Farebrother ? 

There — that was just the difference, beautifully 
defined and marked out. ‘‘ Madeline ’’ and ‘‘ Gas- 
pard ” had become Miss Madeline ” and Mr. 
Farebrother.*’ 

It was odd, though, that she should have turned 
quite simply to Michael, and said : 

“ How do you do, Michael ? ” 

And that he should have returned her greeting 
with : 

. ‘‘ How do you do, Madeline ? ” 

And he added, without the least reserve : “ Why, 
how pretty you’ve grown ! I didn’t remember 
that you were half so pretty ! ” 

Mrs. Chalmers turned round in great indig- 
nation : 

“ What nonsense are you talking, Michael ! 
Putting such notions into the girl’s head ! She 
doesn’t want to be pretty ; beauty is skin-deep, 
and nothing but a worry and trouble to every- 
body ; and I’m heartily thankful none of my 
family have any, and I won’t have them talked 
nonsense to ! ” 

The good lady whisked both the young men 
into the house, and towards the Vicar’s study, 
which was at the back of the house, facing the 
sea. Gaspard^ at that moment wished the good 
lady — in the sea. 

The Vicar ruffled up his hair at sight of the 
young men, and shook hands with them both in 
rather a perturbed manner. 

Well,” said he, looking over his spectacles 


62 


A Desperate Game 

first at one and then at the other, ‘‘ it isn’t true, 
is it, that you both left your ranch and came 
back here just on the strength of my wife’s letter ? ” 

Michael nodded cheerfully. 

Yes, we did,” said he, “ and right glad am I 
that she had the courage to tell us to come.” 

Not tell, but suggest,” said Mrs. Chalmers 
quickly, as she made her guests sit down, but re- 
mained herself fidgeting uneasily about the room. 
‘‘ At least, I didn’t exactly mean to suggest to 
you that you should come, but only to put it to 
you whether you hadn’t better ! ” she added, with 
evident distress. 

‘‘ There, that’s so like a woman ; does a thing 
in a hurry without thinking, and then tries to 
shuffle out of the responsibility ! ” cried the Vicar, 
who was a cheery old boy, and a great favorite 
with everybody. 

‘‘ Mrs. Chalmers needn’t mind taking the re- 
sponsibility this time,” said Michael quickly, for 
if it hadn’t been for her hint it would have been 
very little use for us ever to have come back at 
all!” 

‘‘ There 1 ” exclaimed Mrs. Chalmers, trium- 
phantly. 

“ You don’t say so 1 ” said the Vicar. 

Come, Michael, you mustn’t be so positive 
yet,” said Gaspard. We certainly have every 
reason to suspect that this Doctor Skates and his 
wife have been getting a great influence over my 
aunt ; but we really have no proof at present that 
they ever had any intention of using that influence 
otherwise than well.” 


A Desperate Game ^3 

Mrs. Chalmers began to look nervous again, 
and the Vicar scratched his head with a quill pen. 

“ Fm sure I hope to goodness they will turn 
out all right,” said he heartily ; not only for 
your sakes, boys, but also because when Ellen's 
right about a thing, especially an important thing 
like this, I never hear the last of it.” 

His wife made a little pretence at a good-hu- 
mored sort of indignation, and Gaspard said : 

‘‘ You mentioned in your letter, Mrs. Chalmers, 
something about a lawyer you saw coming up to 
‘ The Abbey ’ with Dr. Skates one day. May I 
ask if you have ever seen him since, or heard of 
his being there again ? ” 

The Vicar’s wife answered less triumphantly : 

‘‘ Well, I have seen him once there since.” 

And she hesitated. The Vicar shook his head. 

“Now, Ellen, be honest,” he said. “You 
know you found out that he wasn’t a lawyer at 
all ! ” 

“ I know Mrs. Skates told me, when I asked 
if he were a lawyer, that he was not one,” an- 
swered Mrs. Chalmers, with an obstinate look. 
“ She said he was the secretary of some charitable 
society. But we don’t know whether she told the 
truth ! ” 

The Vicar raised his eyes to the ceiling. 

“ Oh, artfulness, thy name is woman ! ” cried 
he. “ You know, Ellen, you have no reason 
whatever for doubting Mrs. Skates’ word.” 

“ I have my instincts ! ” retorted his wife. 

“Yes, but an instinct is not enough to base an 
accusation on ! ” 


64 


A Desperate Game 

“ I don’t accuse ; I only suspect,” retorted 
Mrs. Chalmers vigorously. 

‘‘ But you take very good care to communicate 
your suspicions broadcast, eh ? ” 

“ Not broadcast,” protested she, doggedly, 
‘‘ though I do tell these boys, and more than that, 
though you’ve made me very uncomfortable about 
it, I do think 1 was right in writing to them as I 
did. There ! ” 

When Michael had told these good people of 
the interview he had had with his aunt that morn- 
ing, they both looked grave, though the Vicar 
would not commit himself to any definite opinion. 
He tried hard to conceal his amusement at 
Michael’s “ masquerading as a pedantic young 
prig ; ” but Mrs. Chalmers was very angry about it, 
said that even if the Doctor were a hypocrite, that 
was no reason why he should be one, and threat- 
ened to betray him to his aunt. 

But she did not frighten Michael. 

You won’t do that,” said he; “ You’re too 
good-natured, you know you are.” And he sat 
on the arm of her chair, and coaxed her, and then 
put on his spectacles, and looked at her through 
them while he went on talking, until she could 
not meet his eyes for laughter. 

And then they both got up to go, though Gas- 
pard showed great reluctance in declining the 
Vicar’s invitation to luncheon. 

Gaspard tried in vain to get another glimpse of 
Madeline on his way out. He asked if he couldn’t 
see the children. But Mrs. Chalmers was inex- 
orable. They were at their lessons, she said, and 


A Desperate Game 65 

had better not be disturbed. And as she im- 
mediately disappeared into the room where they 
all were, Gaspard in vain craned his neck as he 
went down the drive, looking wistfully at the win- 
dow where he had previously seen the Vicar's 
pretty daughter. 


CHAPTER VI. 

It was Michael, however, who made the first 
reference to Madeline. 

“ How wonderfully little Madeline has im- 
proved in looks ! " he said, as soon as they were 
outside the gates. 

“Yes," said his brother laconically. 

“ I never thought she was going to turn out 
particularly handsome, though, of course, the 
Vicar’s been a good-looking man before he grew 
so stout, and she, with her fair hair and blue eyes, 
takes after him." 

“Yes," said Gaspard again. 

“ Not that it’s a type I’m particularly gone on," 
went on the younger brother, with a very young 
man’s lofty criticism. “ I like something more 
fragile-looking myself. Now, my little Dresden 
china shepherdess at the bookshop ’’ 

“ Oh, bother your bookshop shepherdess ! ’’ 
cried Gaspard, impatiently. “ One knows very 
well what she’d be like really ! ’’ 

Michael burst out laughing, rather mischiev- 
ously. 

5 


66 


A Desperate Game 

“ Oh, all right,” said he. “ I’m wrong, I dare 
say. I don’t know a good-looking girl when I 
see one, very likely. Very likely ! ” he added to 
himself with some loftiness. 

Gaspard dismissed the subject with a gesture of 
the hand. 

“ Why didn’t you tell the Vicar and his wife 
about the seance to-night ? ” he asked, suddenly. 

Well, perhaps because I look upon it as a 
thing so important that I’d rather not discuss it 
beforehand. It will be a pretty good test, don’t 
you see, as to whether he is a mere trickster or 
not. So I must know a little more before I care 
to chatter about it.” 

Gaspard admitted this with an uneasy nod of 
the head. He had already himself come suffi- 
ciently under the influence of the Doctor's genial 
manner and keen sense of humor to hope very 
strongly that nothing would be found out against 
the pair. At the same time he could not but 
admit that Michael’s experience had been rather 
more likely to excite suspicion than his own. 
He inclined, on the whole, to the belief that the 
Doctor himself was ‘‘ all right,” and that if there 
was any cunning in the pair, it belonged entirely 
to Mrs. Skates, and not to her genial old husband. 

When they got back to the ‘‘ The Abbey,” it 
was luncheon time, and Miss Farebrother was 
already in the smaller dining-room, expressing 
some irritation against them both for being late. 

Michael thought he saw, under Mrs. Skates’ 
placid serenity of manner, certain signs that she 
was ill-pleased. After luncheon, in fact, she 


A Desperate Game ^7 

thought proper to confide in him the reason of 
her annoyance. Coming up to him playfully, 
when Miss Farebrother and the Doctor had left 
the room, she said : 

‘^You are a very naughty boy, Mr. Michael, 
and Fm really quite angry with you.” 

“In what way, Mrs. Skates?” asked Michael, 
looking down at her through his spectacles, “have 
I had the misfortune to incur your displeasure ? ” 

“ Oh, you needn't talk like that, you bad, wicked 
fellow, when you don’t care a bit ! ” answered she, 
with the same stereotyped smile as ever. 

They had drawn into the window, to be out of 
the way of the servants, who were now clearing 
the table. Gaspard had also come into the recess, 
and was looking out into that very small portion 
of the garden which Was visible from the window. 

“ It was you,” went on Mrs. Skates, still in 
most amiable protest, “ who persuaded your dear 
aunt to send away one of the cleverest and most 
devoted servants she’s ever had. Now, don’t at- 
tempt to deny it; for Miss Farebrother admitted 
it herself. She told me you insisted on poor An- 
son’s being ■ sent away this morning, this very 
morning, and I’ve had to tell the poor dear thing 
she must go back to London by the four o’clock 
train.” 

Michael was quite willing, as his aunt plainly de- 
sired, to take the whole blame of this dismissal on 
his own shoulders, and he did so, with an elaborate 
and solemn expression of his belief that Anson 
was too depressing a person for her society to be 
good for Miss Farebrother. 


68 


A Desperate Game 

As they stood there in the window, and he 
looked down into the serene, fair face, with the long 
wavy curtains of soft gray hair half covering the 
cheeks on either side, he was struck with the ex- 
treme youthfulness of Mrs. Skates’ face com- 
pared with the hue of her hair, and he wondered 
how it was that, while her figure had gone to seed 
altogether, and had assumed that rotund shapeless- 
ness so unfortunately common in ladies of fifty or 
thereabouts, her cheeks, or what could be seen of 
them, had none of the flabbiness which usually 
goes with such a figure. And it occurred to him 
to think that Mrs. Skates must have been a very 
beautiful woman in her youth. 

She was very pleasant and good-humored 
about the dismissal of Anson, after all, and he was 
conscious that she was taking his interference in 
his aunt’s concerns very well. He took care to 
say very little himself, having an undefined im- 
pression that she suspected him, and that she was 
anxious to find out whether in the course of an- 
imated conversation his assumed pedantry would 
peel off. 

When she left the room, which was not for 
some time, Michael turned to his brother, and 
was about to speak to him, when Gaspard antici- 
pated him by crying, in a breathless voice, full of 
interest, as he looked out of the window : 

“ By Jove, what a pretty girl 1 ” 

Michael stalked to the window at a slow pace, 
and looked out in his turn. But the person so 
flatteringly alluded to had already disappeared in- 
to the big rustic Gothic porch before the house 


A Desperate Game 69 

entrance, and he caught only a glimpse of a neat 
little figure, very soberly clad in dark blue serge 
and a black cloth jacket. 

Gaspard turned to his brother. 

“ I suppose,’* said he, you would have said she 
wasn’t a patch upon the bookshop girl ? ” 

Perhaps ! ” said Michael, whose eyes had sud- 
denly become luminous. 

And then he went quickly out of the room. 
In the hall he met the footman, who was showing 
the young lady into the breakfast room. 

No,” said Michael, quickly, show the lady 
into the drawing-room.” 

The man obeyed, and a few moments later 
ushered into the drawing-room the pretty girl, 
whom he announced as : 

Miss Bell. From Miss Burns.” 

Miss Farebrother and her two courtiers looked 
up in surprise, and the old lady uttered a little 
exclamation. 

“ So soon ! ” she murmured. 

Mrs. Skates, seized the situation in a moment. 
Shall I take her into the breakfast-room and 
see her for you, dearest ? ” she whispered, while 
the genial Doctor eyed the newcomer with dis- 
creet approval. 

No, no,” said Miss Farebrother, quickly. 

‘‘ If you and the doctor ” 

Oh, certainly, certainly,” said Mrs. Skates, 
for once allowing her displeasure to peep out in 
her manner, as she added : “ Some young person 
chosen by your nephew, I suppose ? ” 

Miss Farebrother did not answer. She liked 


70 


A Desperate Game 

pretty faces, and the look of modest confusion on 
the fair features of the young visitor pleased her 
enormously. As soon as the Doctor and his wife 
had left the room the old lady put out her hand : 

“ Come here, my dear, and sit by me,'' she said. 

Miss Bell took the chair pointed out to her, 
and tried to smile. But it was rather a watery 
little attempt, and she bit her lips suddenly, and 
looked at the fire. 

“There, there, don't cry, child," said the old 
lady, kindly. “ I didn't expecCany one so soon, 
but I’m very glad to see you. Did my nephew 
see you this morning ? He said nothing about 
it." 

She had her suspicions aroused by the fact that 
the girl was so very pretty ; her soft brown hair, 
large dark eyes, and delicate features formed a 
picture which would appeal particularly to impres- 
sionable youth. But Miss Bell turned to her in 
surprise. 

“ Your nephew ! ” she said, puzzled. 

“ Yes. How was it you came ? ” 

Miss Bell shook her head in bewilderment. 

“ Indeed, I don’t know," said she. “ It was 
only about two hours ago, when I had just come 
in from a walk — I live at Cliffgate, in lodgings 
by myself ” 

“ By yourself? ” 

“ Since my father died. He was a Major in 
the — th,” said the girl. 

“ I see, I see, go on.” 

“ A Miss Burns was announced. She told me 
she had heard I had an idea of doing something — 


71 


A Desperate Game 

I don’t know how she knew, and she didn’t tell 
me — and that she wanted to find some one to be 
a companion to a lady. And she asked me 
whether I would care to come and see you this 
afternoon. So I came,*’ said the girl, simply. 

Miss Farebrother was touched. 

“ Well, I’m very glad you did,” she said, look- 
ing with favor at the young girl’s charming face. 

I should like you to conje and live with me. 
Do you think you would like it ? ” 

Miss Bell looked at her and smiled. 

‘‘ I’m sure you would be very kind,” she said. 

But I don’t know whether I should be accom- 
plished enough for you.” 

‘‘ I don’t think you would find me very exact- 
ing. Do you read aloud well ? ” 

“ Pretty well, I think. I used to read to — to 
poor papa.” 

“ And you play, I suppose ? ’ 

Yes ; but I can’t sing.” 

That doesn’t matter. I don’t care much for 
singing, except the very best. I should like to 
try you. But, dear, dear ! ” The old lady 
laughed, and looked at her with a comical expres- 
sion. I don’t quite know how to tell you. 
But I suppose you’ve been told it before. You’re 
very pretty, you know, and you might turn the 
heads of my two nephews ! ” 

Both the old and the young lady laughed and 
blushed together, and Miss Bell said : 

‘‘ Oh, I’ll be very prim — indeed ! And it 
would be rather hard if you wouldn’t have me 
just because ” 


72 


A Desperate Game 

Because of something that isn’t your fault. 
Well, so it would. And I don’t suppose they 
will stay here long. So I think I shall try you.” 

“ You’ll want a reference, won’t you ? ” 

Oh, I don’t suppose there will be any trouble 
about that.” 

‘‘No, there won’t,” said the girl, shaking her 
head and smiling. I’ll give you the address of a 
clergyman’s wife at Cliffgate. She knew papa and 
me very well.” 

“ Oh, never mind that, my dear ” 

“ But I should like you to write to her,” said 
the girl, earnestly, ” because she can tell you just 
what I can do and can’t do. I’ve often helped 
her in the parish.” 

“Very well. You may write down her ad- 
dress, if you like. And you must stay and have 
a cup of tea with us all now, and I’ll introduce you 
to Dr. and Mrs. Skates, friends who are staying 
with me, and very dear, good people.” 

The girl’s face changed a little. 

“Are they the lady and gentleman who were 
in the room when I came ^ ” asked she, with sud- 
den shyness. 

“ Yes. You don’t know them, do you ^ ” 

“ No, oh no,” said the girl quickly. “ At 
least not to speak to. I have seen the gentle- 
man before — at Cliffgate, I think,” she added 
quickly, as she rose to go. “ I think I’d rather 
not stay now, if you please. I should like to 
catch the next train back, as I came away rather 
unexpectedly.” 

“ As you please,” said Miss Farebrother, who 


A Desperate Game 73 

did not like the least interference with her plans. 
“ Then I shall write to you in a day or two. 
By the by we didn’t say anything about — terms, 
and, believe we ought to settle that.” 

Oh — oh, I don’t mind — anything you think 
right. I’ve got a little to live upon,” said Miss 
Bell, blushing. 

Shall we say forty pounds, then ? ” 

‘‘ Oh, that’s too much, Tm sure ! ” 

I think not. You want to save your own 
money, you know, for a rainy day,” said Miss 
Farebrother, who liked this modest little creature 
more and more. We’ll fix it at that, then, if 
we settle to live together.” 

The girl went away, flushed and happy, and 
never noticed the two faces that watched her from 
a window above, nor the other two that watched 
her from a window below. 

A regular little adventuress, by the look ot 
her ! ” said Mrs. Skates to her, husband, tartly. 

But the doctor said nothing in reply. 

Indeed, he had something very serious to think 
about, and might well be excused from showing 
much interest about the engagement of Miss 
Farebrother’s companion. 

As the day wore on, he made more than one 
attempt to turn Miss Farebrother from her pur- 
pose of holding a seance that night ; but that lady, 
backed up secretly by the artful Michael, was 
obstinate. She wanted to convince her nephew, 
she said, of the doctor’s powers ; and after another 
consultation with his wife he made no further 
opposition to the old lady’s wishes. 


74 


A Desperate Game 

Gaspard was not asked to be present at the 
seance, and indeed his uneasy and silent manners 
still made him rather a wet blanket on the spirits 
of the party. For he could not dissemble, as his 
brother could ; and now that his suspicions had 
been aroused afresh, he took refuge in taciturnity. 

Michael, on the other hand, while still main- 
taining his solemn pedantry, held his own very 
well. He professed the deepest interest in the 
approaching manifestations of the doctor’s occult 
powers, and though he felt pretty sure that that 
gentleman did not believe him, he succeeded in 
persuading his aunt that he was a devout believer. 

It was in one of the little-used rooms in the east 
wing of the house that these four met after dinner 
that evening, and seated themselves round a table, 
by the doctor’s orders, in such a manner that 
Michael was placed between the two ladies, and 
opposite to Skates himself. 

His aunt had informed him that, in answer to 
their questions, it was the habit of the spirits, of 
whom there were no less than three in constant 
con^munion with them all, to give two raps to 
signify “ No,” and three to signify Yes.” 

She also told him that one spirit, that of a lady 
of the name of Laura,” who had lived in the 
Abbey before it was rebuilt, was in the constant 
habit of showing herself to them, in answer to 
their call. 

“ I do trust,” said Michael fervently, that she 
will honor us to-night.” 

The seance opened rather unpropitiously. 
For a long time they all sat round the table in 


75 


A Desperate Game 

the dark and the cold, in a silence absolutely un- 
broken, and it was not until Miss Farebrother 
had begun to grow fidgety and impatient that the 
doctor’s voice, rather hoarse, rather tremulous, 
as if he was nervous, broke the monotony by 
saying : 

Is your spirit present, Laura ? ” 

To the great relief of everybody there came 
the longed-for three raps on the table. 

“ Are you happy and at ease, Laura ? ” asked 
the doctor. 

To everybody’s perplexity and distress the 
answer came in two taps — ‘‘ No.” 

“ Is there a presence here unsympathetic to 
yours, Laura ? ” next asked the doctor. 

Then came the three raps that signified — 
‘‘ Yes.” 

The next question the Doctor put was a more 
delicate one. He evidently felt this, and his 
voice grew lower as he put it : 

Is there a spirit present less pure than your 
own, Laura ? ” 

Again they heard the fatal three raps, “ Yes.” 

‘‘ Is it the spirit of Miss Farebrother, Laura, 
that is base and antipathetic to you ^ 

Quick came the two taps, which meant ‘‘ No.” 

“ Is it that of my wife ? ” 

Again the answer came with two taps, No.” 

Is it my spirit that is evil and repulsive to 
your own purity ? ” 

Quick upon that answer came a most unex- 


7^ A Desperate Game 

Miss Farebrother uttered a little scream ; Mrs. 
Skates made a clutch at Michael. The Doctor, in 
a towering passion, jumped up, overturning his 
chair, and flung open the door, admitting the light 
from the gas outside. 

‘‘There — there is a hypocrite here, an im- 
postor ! ” he almost shrieked, as his eyes rested 
on Michael, who sat calm between the two ex- 
cited ladies. 

“ I fear so, indeed,’’ was Michael’s clearly given 
answer. 

The Doctor, losing all self-command, made a 
rush for him, would have flown [at his throat. 
Mrs. Skates, with marvelous ability for one so 
stout, flung herself round her husband’s neck. 

“ Jamie, hush, calm yourself. Think — think 
what you’re doing ! ” she implored vehemently. 


CHAPTER VII 

While Mrs. Skates was endeavoring to pacify 
her enraged husband, Michael kept his seat be- 
side his aunt, who was trembling violently. 

“ Let me take you downstairs. Aunt,” he said, 
quietly, while the Doctor still stormed, and Mrs. 
Skates still pleaded. “ This scene is calculated 
to make you ill,” he went on, speaking more 
loudly, and with a significant emphasis which added 
fuel to the wrath of Dr. Skates. 

Under the prudent influence of his wife, the 


A Desperate Game 77 

Doctor had begun to grow a little calmer, but at 
this he allowed his anger to flame out afresh : 

“No, no. You’re an in olent young puppy, 
and not to be trusted. I will see Miss Fare- 
brother downstairs,” cried he. 

But the old lady was already on her feet, and 
had allowed her nephew to draw her withered little 
hand through his arm. 

“ Thank you, I am going with Michael,” she 
said, in a tremulous voice, as the Doctor ap- 
proached her. 

The light which streamed into the darkened 
room from the gas brackets in the corridor hardly 
sufficed to show the expression on the various 
faces. But Miss Farebrother’s voice indicated a 
certain coolness towards the doctor, which warned 
both him and his wife to change their tactics. In- 
stead of entreating, Mrs. Skates began to scold 
her husband, playfully, in her accustomed sugary- 
sweet manner ; the Doctor, on his side, began to 
be apologetic. 

“ Well, well. I’m excitable, and when I am 
irritated I perhaps say more than I ought. No 
doubt there’s some mistake ; this is some joke, 
Mr. Farebrother, eh ? ” 

And, promptly resuming his ordinary genial 
manner, the Doctor would have detained Michael, 
who was on his way out of the room, with his aunt 
leaning on his arm. 

He got no reply from him, however ; and as 
the Doctor and his wife followed the pair slowly 
along the corridor, Mrs. Skates suddenly gave ex- 
pression to her annoyance with her husband’s 


7^ A Desperate Game 

hasty outburst, by pinching his arm so sharply 
that he winced, and uttered an exclamation of 
pain. 

In the meantime. Miss Farebrother stopped 
abruptly, refused to go downstairs again, and told 
her nephew to take her to the rose room, her 
pretty boudoir at the northwest corner of the 
house. 

She was so much agitated that Michael had the 
sense not to make any remark about the scene 
they had just gone through. He let her mutter 
to herself as he seated her gently on the sofa, and 
handed her her salts. She looked at him shyly, 
and seemed grateful for his silence. But, as he 
expected, she was not left in peace long. A light 
tap at the door soon announced the arrival of 
Mrs. Skates, who came purring up to the old 
lady, apologizing for her husband’s loss of tem- 
per. 

“ You know what a hot-headed fellow dear 
Jamie is,” she said, with a little coaxing laugh ; 
“ more like a headstrong lad of eighteen than a 
man of his age. Of course, your dear nephew 
was playing us all a trick, which the Doctor ought 
to have taken in good part. But ” 

“ What trick ? ” asked Miss Farebrother, 
sharply. 

Mrs. Skates was rather taken aback. She 
stammered, reddened, and glanced sharply at 
Michael, who had retreated from his aunt’s side 
on her entrance, and was standing, stiff as a poker, 
by the fireplace. 

“ Well, of course, it was your nephew who gave 


79 


A Desperate Game 

those three raps ! ” she said at last. It was just 
a little bit of fun, which Jamie ought to have 
laughed at. But these things are such realities to 
him ; he is so earnest, so whole-hearted himself in 
his pursuit of truth, that he cannot bear any sign 
of levity in such a serious matter.’’ 

But Miss Farebrother’s face remained cold, per- 
plexed. 

I don’t understand,” she began, slowly. 
“ Why should you accuse Michael of playing a 
trick ? Why should you doubt that he’s as earnest 
as we are ? If there’s any trickery,” and her 
voice rose a little on the word, ‘‘ in the business, 
how do I know who is at fault ? ” 

Mrs. Skates lost her self-command a little. 

I see he’s been poisoning your mind ! ” she 
said, quickly. 

Miss Farebrother repulsed the lady’s plump, 
white hand, and looked at her almost sternly. 

He’s not said a word to me about the 
matter,” she said quietly. 

There was a rather awkward pause. Mrs. 
Skates glanced at Michael in some alarm, but the 
young man remained silent, imperturbable. Miss 
Farebrother put her hand to her forehead wearily. 
She began to look ill and worried. 

‘‘ If you’ll ring for Jarman,” she said, ‘‘ I think 
I’ll go to bed. And I beg,” she said, turning to 
Mrs. Skates, and looking at her gravely, “ that 
you will tell the doctor what I’ve told you, and 
ask him to be more careful how he brings accu- 
sations against other people. Good-night.” 

She had risen, and was walking across the room 
6 


8o 


A Desperate Game 

to the door of her dressing-room, which was the 
middle one of the three apartments which she re- 
served for her own special use. 

Mrs. Skates, who was looking rather pale, asked 
humbly : 

You’ll let me come and kiss you, as usual, 
when you’re in bed, dearest ? ” 

The old lady hesitated. Michael was ill- 
natured enough to hope that she was going to re- 
fuse. But Mrs. Skates was so evidently suffering 
from real anxiety and distress that the old lady 
softened a little, and said, as she reached the door : 

‘‘ Oh, yes, I suppose so.” 

Then Michael, who had received only a little 
nod from his aunt, walked to the outer door, and 
held it open for Mrs. Skates. She was conscious 
of the necessity of ‘‘ making it all right with him,” 
and she said in her sweetest voice, as she went 
out — 

“You won’t bear me any malice for taking my 
husband’s part, will you ? ” • 

“ Not in the least, I assure you,” said Michael, 
good-humoredly, as he followed her downstairs. 

And it was true. While Gaspard inclined to 
the belief that the Doctor was a cheery old fellow, 
with little harm in him, and that it was his wife 
who was an artful and designing woman, Michael, 
on the contrary, looked upon the Doctor as a 
cunning adventurer, and rather pitied his wife for 
her position. 

He did not feel inclined to meet Skates again 
that night, so he went off to his own room, where 
his brother soon joined him. 


A Desperate Game 

And again there was a slight disagreement be- 
tween the brothers. Michael considered that the 
doctor was a humbug and impostor, who was try- 
ing by supernatural trickery to keep that influence 
over Miss Farebrother which he had already ob- 
tained ; while Gaspard was rather inclined to look 
upon these manifestations as a joke, and to think 
that they were merely intended to amuse his aunt. 

Gaspard contended that, if the Doctor’s design 
in holding these seances had been a nefarious one, 
he would not have risked Michael’s presence at 
one of them ; while his brother, on the other hand, 
maintained that he dared not refuse to allow him 
to come, and that he had trusted in his own re- 
sourcefulness to avoid any such incident as the 
one which had taken place. 

lu the morning the two young men heard, with 
some dismay, that their aunt was too unwell to 
get up, but that she refused to see a doctor, and 
would allow no one but Mrs. Skates and Jarman 
to come near her. 

It was in vain that Michael sent messages to 
his aunt, through Mrs. Skates, the only available 
messenger, begging that he might see her for a 
few moments. The Doctor’s wife always came 
back with a deprecatory smile and shake of th, 
head, regretting that the dear lady was really toc 
ill to be disturbed. 

The last time that she said this to Michael, the 
young man rose from the sofa on which he had 
been sitting, and without looking at the Doctor, 
who was sitting by the fire, deep in a scientific 
work, said, “ Then I think it is my duty to re- 


82 


A Desperate Game 

quest the Vicar to come and visit my aunt, that 
he may use his influence to persuade her to see 
Dr. Pearson.” 

Mrs. Skates changed color. 

‘‘ Oh, there’s nothing seriously the matter with 
our dear friend, or you may be sure that 1 myself 
should be the first to overrule her wishes, and in- 
sist upon sending for the doctor,” said she. 

I’m sure of that,” said Michael. “ Never- 
theless it is clear there is something gravely wrong 
when my aunt is so ill that she cannot see any 
member of her own family, and yet thinks herself 
so well that she has no need of medical advice.” 

‘‘ I assure you- ” began Mrs. Skates again, 

earnestly. 

The Doctor saw that it was time for him to in- 
terfere. 

“ Can’t you persuade her, my dear, to see Mr. 
Farebrother, even if it’s only for a few minutes ? ” 
asked he, in his genial tones. 

He had already made the most ample apologies 
to Michael for his anger of the previous evening, 
but had tried in vain to draw from that young 
man a confession of his share in the scene. 

Mrs. Skates turned to her husband inquiringly. 

He went on, ‘‘ I’m sure we can trust Mr. Fare- 
brother to be discreet, and not to let her talk too 
much. Indeed, you can easily stop him, and or- 
der him out if she seems inclined to get excited.” 

“ So,” thought Michael, we are to ha’ a chiel 
amang us takin’ notes.” 

He made no objection, however, and at once 
insisted that he should accompany Mrs. Skates 


A Desperate Game 83 

Upstairs, and await, outside her door, his aunt’s 
decision as to whether she would receive him. 

In a very few seconds the Doctor’s wife came 
out ; she smiled sweetly, and held out her hand 
to Michael, as if he had been a little boy, whis- 
pering : 

“ She will see you, she says. I persuaded her.” 

“ Thank you so much ! ” said Michael, with 
fervor, as he thought to himself, “ I wonder if she 
tried very hard to get aunt to refuse to see me ! ” 

They went in together, and found the little old 
lady not in bed, as Michael had expected, but sit- 
ting up in a warm dressing-gown in an armchair 
by the fire. Jarman, a sedate and almost stately 
woman, tall, gaunt, discreet, was standing behind 
her mistress’s chair. 

Michael uttered an exclamation of pleased sur- 
prise. 

What, sitting up, aunt ! I am glad ! ” cried 
he, as he stooped to kiss her. I understood 
you didn’t feel well enough to rise.” 

The old lady laughed rather nervously. 

“ I thought I should like to try, just a few 
minutes ago, when Blanche had gone downstairs,” 
she said, innocently giving Michael a clue to the 
reason why she had stayed in bed at all. ‘‘ And 
Jarman said she didn’t think it would hurt me, if 
I felt I wanted to ! ” 

“ I hope, love, you will not suffer from your 
rashness ! ” said Mrs. Skates, shaking her head 
in gentle reproof. ‘‘ You’re so full of spirit, so 
delightfully brave, but we must not let you over- 
tax your strength.” 


84 A Desperate Game 

“ Why did you refuse to see me, Aunt ? asked 
Michael. 

“ I didn’t refuse to see you,” replied she, simply. 
“ As soon as Blanche said you were outside I told 
her to bring you in.” 

Michael glanced at Mrs. Skates, who was blush- 
ing furiously, and said, before that lady could in- 
terfere : 

‘‘ But I’ve sent you half-a-dozen messages this 
morning, asking if I might come.” 

I thought it better,” here put in Mrs. Skates, 
dearest, to let you wait till the day was a little 
further advanced, so that you might have more 
time to recover from the effects of last night.” 

Miss Farebrother’s face clouded. 

‘‘ Ah, yes, last night ! ” she said fretfully. “ I 
hardly slept at all. I got Jarman to make her- 
self up a bed in the dressing-room, and she says 
I moaned half the night.” 

I wish you’d let me come and sit up with you, 
dearest,” said Mrs. Skates. 

“ No, no, no, I don’t want anybody to sit up 
with me. I’m not ill. Michael,” she turned to 
her nephew, ‘‘ I’ve been thinking a great deal 
about you in the night — about you and your 
brother.” 

Michael obeyed her gesture, and came nearer, 
while Mrs. Skates, who had grown very pale, with- 
drew a step, to allow him to pass her. Then 
Miss Farebrother addressed the lady : 

“You’ve been neglecting the doctor all the 
morning, Blanche. Now you really must give 
him a little of your society, or he’ll be jealous. 


A Desperate Game 85 

This boy won't mind keeping an old woman com- 
pany for an hour, will you, Michael ? ” 

Her nephew bowed his head, and Mrs. Skates, 
doing her best not to let her discomfiture become 
too manifest, kissed Miss Farebrother's hand with 
great tenderness, and went out of the room. 

There was a pause. Then the discreet Jarman 
asked if there was anything more she could do, 
and her mistress beckoned her to her side. 

‘‘You can go now,” she said, adding in such a 
low voice that Michael rather guessed the words 
than heard them : “ Don't go downstairs. Stay 
about the corridor somewhere, in case I should 
want you again.'' 

And Jarman retired, leaving Michael wonder- 
ing whether his aunt’s confidence in her dear 
friends, the doctor and his wife, was as great as he 
had supposed. 

However, as soon as they were alone together, 
she beckoned him to sit on a low seat near her, 
and said, in a voice which was not strong enough 
to reach much further than his ears : 

“ I’m very fond of Blanche, but I don’t care to 
see quite so much of her, or of anybody, as I’ve 
had to see this morning. The Doctor’s a dear, 
good man, but his wife presumes a little, I think.” 

Michael discreetly listened, but said nothing. 
He thought he should learn more by not asking 
too many questions. 

“ You must know,” she went on, after a short 
pause, “ that while you boys were away in America 
I made a fresh will.” Michael inclined his head; 
nothing could well have exceeded the interest of 


86 


A Desperate Game 

this statement to him. “It is a very difficult 
matter, you know, my dear Michael, to do what is 
absolutely the best thing for young people, es- 
pecially for young men. I dare say you know that, 
if it had not been for your father's care, I should 
have been married, for my money and nothing else, 
by a man who turned out to be nothing better than 
a rogue.” 

“ Yes, I had heard. Aunt,” said he. 

“ Well, it has always been on my mind that I 
must take care that you and your brother should 
not be ruined in the same sort of way, or in one 
of the many other ways by which a young man 
can run foolishly through his money.” 

“ People are wiser now. Aunt,” suggested 
Michael, who had gradually begun to throw off 
some of his pedantic forms of speech when he 
found himself alone with his aunt. 

“Well, you may be, but I shouldn't feel sure 
even of you. Twenty-two is no great age. At 
any rate, it has always been my wish to do what I 
could to protect you, in case I should die before 
you grew out of very young manhood. Do you 
see ? ” 

The young man was touched by her tone of 
kindly solicitude. He just bowed his head and 
she went on. 

“ And I ha4 always wished that I might find 
some friend, as clever and right-minded as your 
own father was, who would act the part to you 
that he did to me.” 

Michael could scarcely Irepress a start. He be- 
gan to see what was coming. 


A Desperate Game ^7 

“ Well, there’s Mr. Buckle ! ” he suggested, 
naming the head of the firm of lawyers who had 
always had the conduct of his aunt’s business in 
the old days. 

‘‘ I thought of him, of course. But he is ob- 
stinate and old-fashioned. He positively declined 
to take upon himself the responsibility,” she said 
fretfully. 

Michael looked at her interrogatively. 

What responsibility ? ” 

‘‘ Why, what I wanted was to leave my prop- 
erty to him, in trust for you, that he might give 
you such allowance as he thought right until you 
had reached the age of thirty, or had married with 
his approval, and that, as each of you attained 
that age, you should each receive your share of 
the whole. Do you see ? ” 

“ I can understand that old Buckle ” said 

Michael, forgetting his pedantry altogether in 
his surprise, “ wouldn’t care for such a responsi- 
bility as that ! ” 

‘‘ He wouldn’t hear of it, and said no honest 
man would. So I made a will, under his instruc- 
tions, with different provisions. But, as I told Dr. 
Skates ‘and his wife, I was not satisfied with it.” 

Yes,” said Michael, seeing that a remark was 
expected of him, and not feeling able to invent 
anything more striking under the stress of the 
natural anxiety he felt. 

‘‘ Well, we grew intimate, and when I found 
out what a good, as well as an able man he was, 
I thought to myself that I had found the very 
friend I wanted, one who would take upon him- 


88 


A Desperate Game 

self the responsibility of being guardian to you, of 
playing a judicious father’s part.” 

“ And he, of course, fell in with your views at 
once,” said Michael. 

“ Not at once. He begged me to wait, to 
think it over, as it was such a very important step 
to take. And even when I had thought it over, 
he made me write him a letter, asking him to 
undertake this responsibility. He thought it 
would be better, in case Mr. Buckle should be 
offended, you see, at his accepting the office.” 

“ But he did accept the office ? ” 

Yes. And brought a solicitor from London 
to draw up the fresh will.” 

“ How long ago was that. Aunt ? ” 

“ It was drawn up a little more than a month 
ago, and it’s a fortnight since I signed it.” 

You have signed it ? ” 

«Yes.” 

“And it is in Dr. Skates’s possession ? ” 

“ No. In that of this Mr. — Mr. Dennison, 
the lawyer.” 

“ Well ! ” 

Miss Farebrother looked at her nephew solic- 
itously. 

“ I want to feel sure you both understand I’ve 
acted for the best for you,” she said, betraying a 
little anxiety in her voice. 

Michael perceived that the incident of the pre- 
vious evening had been successful in rendering 
her somewhat uneasy about the Doctor. He knew 
better than to be virulent in his denunciations of 
that gentleman, so he said very quietly : 


A Desperate Game ^9 

I don’t pretend that I, for my part, do feel as 
much confidence in the Doctor as you do ” 

You don’t know him so well,” said Miss 
Farebrother quickly. 

“ That’s true. But may I ask one thing : does 
Mr. Buckle know of this second will ? ” 

‘‘ N-n-no.” 

Then will you let him know all about it, show 
it him, in fact ? That’s all I ask. If he approves, 
I can answer for it that Gaspard as well as myself 
will be perfectly satisfied.” 

‘‘ I can hardly suppose he will, after what he 
said before,” said Miss Farebrother rather im- 
patiently. His views are different from mine 
as to the treatment of young men.” 

An idea came into Michael’s head, but he found 
it rather difficult to put it into words. After a 
slight pause, he said : 

May I ask, aunt, whether it was not the 
doctor who suggested this second will to you, and 
not you who suggested it to him ? ” 

A slight flush of displeasure appeared in the 
old lady’s cheeks. 

It was quite my own idea,” she began in an 

offended tone. At least ” 

Michael asked no more. That broken phrase 
was an admission. And he well understood how 
discreetly the Doctor had insinuated his own ideas 
into her mind, so that no doubt of their being orig- 
inally her own had crossed her mind till that 
moment. 

However, if he could once persuade her to get 
her own lawyers to read the second will, he felt 


90 


A Desperate Game 

sure that they would find means to prevent her 
from impoverishing her own kindred and enrich- 
ing an adventurer in the manner proposed. So 
he said again : “You have been kind enough, 
Aunt, to consult me about this, and I, on my side, 
confide in you frankly my belief that it is not safe 
for you to trust so absolutely any man of whom 
you know no more than you do of Dr. Skates.'* 

“ But " 

“ Let me finish," said Michael. “ Will you 
promise me, not to consult Mr. Buckle, or to be 
guided by his advice, but just to send for him 
and show him the second will ? Put it into his 
care, in fact ? " 

Miss Farebrother hesitated a moment, and then 
gave way. 

“ Well, there’ll be no harm done by that. He 
shall see it. I’ll write to him to-day,’’ she said. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

When Michael left his aunt to go to luncheon, 
he felt that he could scarcely pass the shining bald 
top of Dr. Skates’s venerable head without ad- 
ministering such a sound blow as would have 
spoilt his powers of scheming forever. But in- 
stead of that he walked sedately to his place, and 
discussed the weather with the most vivid interest 
not betraying for a moment to the rather anxious 
eyes of the husband and wife how well informed 
he now was as to their intentions. 


A Desperate Game 91 

When luncheon was over, it was with no undue 
haste that he drew Gaspard out of the house and 
started by a by-path across the fields towards the 
Vicarage. Gaspard had jumped at the proposal 
with an alacrity which drew from his brother a dry 
laugh. 

‘‘ How about my Dresden shepherdess, now? ” 
he asked, with affected disdain. At any rate 
you don’t find me rushing off to Cliffgate at the 
pace of a greyhound every five minutes to look at 
her ! ” 

Gaspard slackened his pace and frowned. 
Shepherdesses ! ” cried he. “ What do you 
mean by your shepherdesses ? ” 

I mean only that you’re crazy to see Made- 
line Chalmers again. But mark my words, Mrs. 
Chalmers won’t be so ready to let her sing and 
play for you as she used to be, now that our pros- 
pects, both yours and mine, have run down to 
zero.” 

‘‘ Zero ! ” 

Michael nodded. “ I don’t mean that she’s one 
of your fortune-hunting mothers ; but chaps like 
you and me, who’ve been brought up to think they 
needn’t work very hard, and who find themselves 
suddenly without prospects and without a career, 
are just about the last sort of fellows that prudent 
women choose for their daughters.” 

And Michael told his brother the whole story 
of his interview with their aunt that morning. 

Gaspard was aghast. He was at first for return- 
ing at once to “ The Abbey ” and calling in the 
police to turn out the Doctor. When he had re- 


9^ A Desperate Game 

covered from the first shock, however, he adopted 
a counsel of despair. 

“ Let’s go back to London, and become clerks, 
or boot-blacks,” suggested he. His brother 
shook him roughly by the arm. 

“ Nonsense,” said he. “The game’s not up 
yet. I admit we’re in very great danger, for the 
Doctor’s been so precious artful, and has put him- 
self in the position of having been persuaded 
against his will. But if only Aunt keeps her word 
and sends for Buckle, I think it will be all right. 
He’ll prove to her that the idea was the Doctor’s, 
and not hers. Or at least he’ll take some steps 
to find out who and what the fellow is.” ' 

It was with heavy hearts that the lads reached 
the Vicarage, where they were shown into the draw- 
ing-room, and welcomed a few minutes later by 
Madeline herself, accompanied by a couple of 
younger sisters. 

Gaspard seized the opportunity of a chat with 
his old playmate, who, in her new glories of young 
womanhood, had made such a strong impression 
on him. He asked if he might see the old school- 
room, where they had had so many games and 
dances in the past days. 

“ Oh, yes, you can see it, of course,” she said 
as she led the way to the door ; “ but it’s almost 
neglected now the boys have gone to Winchester. 
You’ll find it looks very bare and miserable in- 
deed.” 

They were going the length of the wide, flagged 
hall, and in a few moments they had reached the 
big outbuilding which had been added to the 


93 


A Desperate Game 

house at the back. As she had predicted, the 
sight of it, when he stood inside the bare apart- 
ment beside the beautiful girl whose partner he 
had so often been there in “ Sir Roger,” gave him 
a strange chill. 

There, in a corner, huddled up and broken, 
were the old school desks, and the forms which 
the Vicar’s boys had used before Winchester 
claimed them for its own. There was the carpen- 
ter’s bench, where Michael had made a doll’s house 
which was the talk of the neighborhood for its 
“ real” staircase and smoke-producing chimneys. 
There on the walls still hung the festoons of paper 
roses with which, with an ill-judged taste for or- 
nament, Gaspard and Madeline had insisted on 
adorning the room on the last Christmas party 
that was ever held there. 

“It does look different ! ” he said, when they 
had both contemplated the room in silence for a 
few moments. “ One could believe that ghosts 
came out at night and danced here ! ” 

An echo gave him back his last word. 

“ Ghosts ! ” cried Madeline. “ You speak as 
if you believed in them ! ” 

“ Well, I’m not sure that I don’t,” said Gas- 
pard cautiously. “ At least, in America I heard 
some odd things, things that set one thinking. 
Spirits, they call them there, you know.” 

“ Well, but the spirits that are supposed to 
haunt places don’t come till after the persons are 
dead,” said Madeline. “ And we’re all of us very 
much alive, you and I, and the boys and all ! ” 
“Yes. I’m sorry you’ve given up the old 


94 


A Desperate Game 

school-room, though. It makes one feel that the 
old times are so far behind us. So they are for 
that matter.” 

‘‘ How melancholy you’ve grown ! You never 
used to be so low-spirited ! ” said Madeline. 

Everything looked so much brighter then 
than it does for Michael and me now,” said Gas- 
pard. “ I suppose you know what a muddle 
things are in at the Abbey ? ” 

I’ve heard something, and I’m so very sorry,” 
said Madeline. Papa and mama have an idea 
that they have kept it all to themselves, but these 
things always leak out in a large family, like ours ; 
you can never be sure that there are not half a 
dozen children within hearing, you know, when 
you talk secrets.” 

And what do you think of it all ? ” 

I think,” said Madeline, with the prompt de- 
cision of extreme youth, ‘‘ that the Skateses are a 
pair of impostors, and that they mean to get hold 
of every shilling of Miss Farebrother’s money if 
they can.” 

In spite of all he knew, and of all that Michael 
and he suspected, Gaspard was rather shocked by 
this plain speaking. 

Oh, I shouldn’t like to think they were as 
bad as that,” said he. ‘‘You know we really 
have no reason to suppose they’re not well off 
themselves.” 

“ Well, if I were you, I should get a detective 
to find out something about them,” said Madeline 
boldly. 

But Gaspard shrank from the suggestion. 


95 


A Desperate Game 

rd rather throw up the whole thing/’ said 
he, in a tone of disgust, “ and, in fact, that’s what 
I mean to do. I shall go up to London and find 
myself something to do in an office.” 

What ? And leave these people to do as they 
like, and to rob you of what is rightfully yours ? 
Michael won’t do that. I’m sure ! ” 

Michael has more pluck than I, more daring, 
more energy. Besides, we look at these things 
differently. He thinks as you do of these people, 
while I’m inclined to think it was my aunt who 
insisted on getting them into the position they 
are in. Do you see? If so, surely she has a 
right to please herself. And it’s degrading to 
hang on here, waiting on her caprice ; it makes 
me mad.” 

Well, I like you to feel like that, but I can’t 
bear that you should lose your money. For it 
ought to be yours, as your aunt herself admits.” 

“ I’ve got a little of my own, enough to start 
with, and I’ve got my share in the ranch. I 
should be quite satisfied with my money pros- 
pects, if only — if only they didn’t make a differ- 
ence to me in another way.” 

He paused, and his voice dropped a little. 
Madeline met his eyes, and looked away, and 
blushed. They had been boy and girl sweet- 
hearts, these two, and already she understood, 
now that they had met again, that the old affec- 
tion had begun to grow into something newer, 
sweeter, stronger. She said nothing, but turned 
away, and began to pull up the blind of one of 


9^ A Desperate Game 

the long windows, letting in the bright rays of the 
afternoon sun. 

Gaspard followed her, took the cord from her 
hand, and as he touched her fingers, a thrill went 
through her. He had not meant to speak more 
clearly that day ; he had meant to go away and start 
in life on his own account first, so that he might 
speak out more boldly, more freely, but when 
their hands met he understood how it was between 
them, and knew that the new sensations which he 
felt in his own heart were in hers also. 

And the impulse to say more was too strong to 
be resisted. 

‘‘ If — if I get on a little — even if Fm never 
likely to be rich, will you — may I ” 

The answer was already in her eyes, though it 
had not time to rise to her lips, when a hurried 
step outside made the girl start away from him, 
and say quickly : 

‘‘ It’s Mama ! ” 

And in another moment Mrs. Chalmers burst 
open the door of the old schoolroom hastily. 

As Madeline had instinctively felt, there was 
displeasure in her mother’s face and voice, veiled 
indeed, but unmistakable, as she said, rather 
sharply : 

‘‘ Oh, you are here, Gaspard. We’ve been 
wondering what had become of you. Michael 
wants to go back home, and I didn’t know where 
to find you.” 

Gaspard, simple fellow, saw no reason for being 
ashamed of his feelings toward Madeline, and he 
would have spoken to Mrs. Chalmers there and 


97 


A Desperate Game 

then of his love and his hopes, but that she made 
such a thing impossible by hurrying him off, and 
chattering to him so fast that he could not get a 
word in. 

It was not until he and -his brother were out- 
side and on their way home that he began to per- 
ceive that there had been intention in her brusque 
volubility. Michael made it clear to him that 
the Vicar’s wife had understood what he wanted 
to say, and had determined to prevent his say- 
ing it. 

But why ? Why should she ? ” asked Gas- 
pard hotly. ‘Mt was always understood, in a 
way, even when Madeline and I were boy and 
girl, that some day ” 

‘‘ Ah, that was when you had prospects, my 
boy,” said Michael shortly. But I told the 
Vicar and his wife about the second will, and I 
must tell you that they consider the outlook for 
us desperately bad. They say the Doctor and 
his wife will get the best of us. And in the cir- 
cumstances Mrs. Chalmers doesn’t want to throw 
Madeline, the beauty of the family, away upon 
you. There, that’s the truth of it, though it 
isn’t pleasant hearing.” 

Gaspard was indignant, incredulous. Mrs. 
Chalmers was a good woman, and no fortune- 
hunter. 

“ Fortune-hunter be blowed ! ” retorted Michael 
airily. “ Of course, she doesn’t want to see 
Madeline tied for life to a struggling City clerk, 
with three or four hundred a year at the outside. 
That’s not fortune-hunting ; it’s common sense. 


7 


9^ A Desperate Game 

It’s what I should do myself. No, my boy, un- 
less we can rout the Skateses, there’s no Madeline 
for you, and nothing better than bread and cheese 
for life for either of us. You may make your 
mind easy about that ! ” 

Gaspard raved, but he could get nothing more 
promising from his brother than that. Dr. Skates, 
said Michael, was not only a designing man, but 
a clever one, and one too who would probably 
turn out to be as unscrupulous as he was clever. 

‘‘ But,” said Gaspard, “ Mr. Buckle will be 
down here in a day or two, and he will set matters 
right.” 

“ Perhaps,” said Michael, dubiously. “ If — he 
comes.” 

But Aunt Lucilla has promised to write and 
send for him ! ” 

“ Yes. But there are influences at work which 
may prevent her,” said Michael. 

Gloomily the brothers walked home. They saw 
nothing more of their aunt that day, but the Doctor 
and his wife seemed determined to outvie all their 
former efforts to be amiable and entertaining. 
Gaspard, however, was more reserved than usual, 
and upon Michael’s assumed priggishness they 
could made no impression. 

They all retired to rest early, but neither of the 
brothers could sleep, so much agitated were they 
by the excitements of the day. 

It was between twelve and one o’clock when 
both of them heard a sound of soft footsteps in 
the corridor outside, going up and down, up and 
down. Gaspard was on his way to his door, to 


99 


A Desperate Game 

see who it could be, when there came a soft tap at 
Michael's door. The brothers opened their doors 
at the same moment, and saw, by the light of a 
candle which she carried in her hand, Jarman, the 
maid, ghastly pale and with starting eyeballs, 
looking, in her gray dressing-gown, like a withered 
old witch. 

She seemed almost choked by terror. 

“Oh, Mr. Michael, come down to Miss Fare- 
brother's room, please. There's a-a-something, 
a spirit, ghost, something terrible, in her room, by 
her bedside." 

“ Nonsense. It's some trick," said Michael 
in a low voice, as he began to hurry downstairs 
with her. 

Gaspard followed ; but when they reached the 
door of Miss Farebrother's room, they found it 
locked. So was the door of the dressing-room, 
and that of the boudoir beyond. Michael pursed 
up his lips. 

“ Ghosts don’t lock doors,” said he shortly, in 
a low voice. Then he called his aunt softly by 
name. 

There was a pause of a few seconds, and then 
Miss Farebrother's voice answered calmly: 

“ What's the matter ? " 

“ Your doors are all locked. Are you all 
right ? " said Michael. 

“ Of course I am. Good night." 

Michael and Jarman looked at each other. But 
Gaspard had disappeared. 

Standing for a moment behind the others, near 
one of the corridor windows which gave upon the 
LofC. 


lOO 


A Desperate Game 

garden at the back of the house, he saw a faint, 
peculiar light on the tall trees and shrubs at the 
other side of the lawn. A moment’s reflection 
was enough for him to decide that this light was 
thrown from the windows of his aunt’s room, and 
remembering that it was one of her fancies never 
to have either her blinds or her curtains drawn at 
night, he ran downstairs without passing his 
brother or Jarman, unlocked one of the garden 
doors, and ran quickly across the lawn. He soon 
saw that he was right. The faint rays streamed 
out through the windows of Miss Farebrother’s 
bedroom, aud it struck him that it was the strangest, 
coldest light he had ever seen. Something that 
chilled his blood and made him shiver : some 
strange-looking, unearthly figure, indistinct, eerie, 
moved in the center of that strange light. 

Gaspard stared up from the lawn below, 
with quick-drawn breath and staring eyes. Then, 
with an inspiration, he turned to the still almost 
leafless trees which bordered the lawn, and decided 
from one of them to get a better view of what it 
was that stood, swaying gently, as if moved by 
every breath of air, in the pale -circle of dim 
greenish light in his aunt’s room. 

It must be some trick, surely, he thought. 
The figure, when he got a better view of it, would 
prove to be that of Mrs. Skates, or of the 
Doctor. 

So he climbed up the tree that offered the 
easiest ascent, and looked full into the window of 
his aunt’s room. 

The sight that met his eyes froze his blood. 


lOI 


A Desperate Game 

The figure he saw was not earthly, not of solid 
flesh. Filmy, transparent, shining in the darkness 
of the room around her with a pale, supernatural 
light, not standing, but swaying midway between 
floor and ceiling was the spiritualized, ethereal form 
of a tall and beautiful girl, slender as a reed, 
willowy, graceful, with her long black hair falling 
in a shadowy mantle about her shoulders. 

Gaspard held his breath. The figure moved 
gently, raised a transparent white hand slowly, 
moved its pale lips, its head. Then, while he 
still watched, he perceived the outlines of the 
figure growing dimmer ; they mingled with the 
shadows behind. And so, while his staring eyes 
were fixed on what he still saw of it, the figure 
began to melt slowly away on the same spot, till it 
faded altogether into darkness. 

Scarcely able to move for the horror and sick- 
ness which had seized his very heart, Gaspard 
half climbed, half fell to the ground. 


CHAPTER IX. 

Across the now dark lawn Gaspard went, try- 
ing to collect his thoughts, trying to find out what 
he himself believed concerning the apparition he 
had seen. 

He was not superstitious, and he had the best 
possible reasons for thinking that the artful Doctor 
and his wife might have discovered some way of 
working upon Miss Farebrother’s imagination by 


102 


A Desperate Game 

means of an illusion. But for all that his mind 
was clouded with doubt ; and he asked himself 
how this spectral figure could have been produced, 
and even whether it were really the result of 
trickery at all. 

Re-entering the house, he did not forget to lock 
the door again before running quickly up-stairs. 
But so much had his imagination been excited by 
what he had seen that, as he went quickly along 
the darkened corridor, his fancy suggested more 
than once the sound of soft footsteps and the rush 
of air made by a passing figure. 

He found Michael and Jarman still waiting 
outside his aunt's door. Jarman had a candle, 
but they had no other light, for neither had 
thought of lighting the gas. 

‘‘ Where have you been ? " asked Michael, im- 
patiently, but keeping his voice in a low key. 
Then, suddenly perceiving his brother’s disturbed 
countenance, he said, quickly : Why, what’s the 
matter ? ” 

Gaspard shook his head and waved his hand. 
He was still so unnerved that he wanted to col- 
lect himself a little before trusting himself to speak. 
So he merely pointed to his aunt’s door, and 
raised his eyebrows interrogatively. 

“ Nothing’s happened,” Michael said shortly, 
replying to the unspoken question. We can 
just hear a sound now and then as if aunt was 
talking to herself. I can’t understand it. I’ve 
called out to her once or twice, and she has an- 
swered me at once, quite calmly and coherently. 
And that’s all.” 


A Desperate Game loj 

The brothers had withdrawn to the opposite 
side of the corridor, which was wide at this point, 
so that they could speak and listen without fear 
of being overheard. Jarman with her candle, 
statuesque and immovable, quite herself now that 
she was not alone, still stood by her mistress’s door. 

Suddenly they all three started on hearing Miss 
Farebrother’s voice addressing them. She was 
evidently close to her door. 

“ Michael ! ” cried she, are you there still ? ” 

‘‘Yes, aunt.” 

“ And who else ? Who’s with you ? I hear 
talking,” she said, imperiously. 

“ Gaspard’s here with me, and Jarman,” an- 
swered Michael, crossing to the door as he spoke. 

“ And what are you all there for r* What made 
Jarman go away ? ” 

Michael hesitated for a moment. 

“ She woke up in a fright, I believe, aunt, and 
— and had a fancy she , heard a noise or something. 
So she ran out in the corridor, and we heard her 
and came down to see what was the matter. 
Then we found all your doors locked, and we 
wondered why that was.” 

“ All my doors locked ! ” echoed Miss Fare- 
brother. “ Nonsense. Go to bed, all of you, at 
once.” 

“ Mayn’t we come in for a moment, aunt, just 
to assure ourselves you’re all right ? ” 

Miss Farebrother hesitated, only for a moment, 
however. 

“Yes, you can come in if you like to be so 
stupid,” she said in a grumbling tone. 


104 A Desperate Game 

You’ll have to unlock the door,” suggested 
Michael. 

As his aunt came back to the door in order to 
urn the key, Michael made a hasty sign to Jar- 
aan that she was to remain outside on the watch. 
The next moment the door was unlocked, and 
the brothers entered the bedroom together. 

Their first look round showed them that there 
was no person in the room except Miss Fare- 
brother and themselves. The curtains of the 
windows, drawn back as usual, lay flat against the 
wall, aflFording no hiding-place ; Michael glanced 
quickly round, and then sprang towards the door 
of the dressing-room. 

Where are you going ? ” asked his aunt 
quickly. But Michael had already disappeared, 
and she turned in surprise to his brother, “ Is he 
mad ? ” she asked shortly. 

Gaspard looked at her. 

He noticed that Miss Farebrother, who was 
wrapped in a woolly pink dressing-gown, with the 
coquettish little knots and ends of ribbon that she 
loved, was looking strangely happy and peaceful. 
There was an unusual brightness in her eyes, and 
little trace of the impatient irritability which she 
generally showed when she was disturbed. 

He could only stammer in reply to her ques- 
tions, and listen, in some perturbation, to Michael’s 
blundering footsteps in the next room, where he 
could be heard overturning chairs and knocking 
against tables in the darkness. Miss Farebrother 
laughed a little. ‘‘ He must be mad, I think. 
And you, what’s the matter with you too ? You 


A Desperate Game 

look as if you’d been frightened out of your 
wits.” 

Gaspard looked at her earnestly. 

“ Aunt, has anybody been with you ? ” he asked 
in a hoarse voice. 

She smiled at him, and did not at first reply. 
In the meantime Michael, flushed and sullen, 
came back after his blundering excursion into the 
two adjoining rooms. Then Miss Farebrother 
turned to him, and laughed in gentle mockery. 

You’re the two oddest young men I’ve ever 
heard of,” she said, as she tranquilly seated her- 
self beside the dying embers of the fire, as if re- 
signed to this invasion. “ Perhaps you will kindly 
let me know how long you mean to keep me up ? ” 

She had lighted the gas before they came in, so 
that they could see each other plainly, and note 
the strong contrast between the old lady’s calm- 
ness and the perplexity on their own faces. 

They were hesitating what to reply to their 
aunt when they heard a sound outside the door 
which made them all start. Michael opened the 
door and uttered an exclamation. There, lying 
in a heap, with her extinguished candle a few feet 
away, as it had evidently fallen out of her hand, 
lay poor Jarman, unconscious, between the bed- 
room and the dressing-room doors. 

Michael was for taking her up into her own 
room ; he wanted to know what it was that had 
frightened her, and reduced her to this state of 
collapse. But Miss Farebrother would not allow 
this. She insisted that Jarman should be brought 


A Desperate Game 

into her bedroom, and Gaspard and Michael, 
though they would willingly have waited, were 
dismissed by her very sharply before the maid 
came to herself. 

The young men went up-stairs again in the ^ 
worst of humors. Gaspard indeed was restless 
and uneasy, half-inclined to fancy that it was in-- 
deed a spirit that he had seen through the win- 
dows of his aunt's room. 

Michael, however, was more than ever con- 
vinced that Miss Farebrother had been victimized 
by another trick, and that the tall, slender girl 
with long black hair and beautiful face was some 
person whom the artful Skates and his wife had 
introduced into the house for this purpose. 

“ But I tell you she didn't look like a live 
woman," persisted Gaspard earnestly. 1 seemed 
to be able to see through her, and she didn't go 
away; the figure melted before my eyes on the 
spot where she stood." 

‘‘ Then it's a Pepper's Ghost affair," retorted 
Michael shortly, “ the sort of thing one has seen 
at booths at a country fair." 

Gaspard made an irritable gesture. 

“Yes," said he, “but for that ghost illusion 
you must have the real person, and a great big 
apparatus besides. You want a large sheet of 
glass for one thing, that couldn't be brought in 
and out of the room without its being seen. 
Don't you know that ? " 

Michael did know it, but he was not convinced. 

“ I don't say that is the particular trick that's 
been played in this case, but I do say it's a trick 


A Desperate Game ^^7 

of some sort,” he said obstinately. ‘‘ And Fm 
going to hunt the place out till I get to the bot- 
tom of it.” 

In fulfilment of this intention he at once took 
a candle into the room above his aunt’s bedroom, 
a long unused apartment, which had once been 
a play-room. Here, by the light of his candle, 
he carefully examined every board of the floor, to 
see whether there was any chink or cranny, any 
trap-door or other devise by which communica- 
tion could be held with the room below. 

H is search was, however, entirely fruitless, and 
so was a tour he made of the house, with the 
object of finding any trace that might still be left 
about of the admission of a visitor. 

The next morning Michael took an early oppor- 
tunity of interviewing Jarman as to what had 
caused her to faint in the corridor on the previous 
night. She was an old servant of the family, and 
as honest as the day ; but alas for Michael ! she 
had one of the usual qualities of old family serv- 
ants — a reticence which nothing could break 
through. She had evidently been ordered by 
her mistress to answer no questions which might 
be put to her by the two young gentlemen, and 
stolidly, implicitly, she obeyed. 

Michael soon guessed the cause of her unwill- 
ingness to speak, and said shortly : 

My aunt has told you not to answer our 
questions, eh ? ” 

A faint flush rose in Jarman’s leathern cheeks, 
and she looked down. All she said was : 

Indeed, I haven’t anything to tell you, Mr. 


A Desperate Game 

Michael. I fainted away, I believe. I suppose 
it was because I was tired out.” 

“ Oh no, it wasn't. It was because you saw 
something. Something that gave you a fright. 
Now come, was it a ghost ? ” 

Jarman trembled, but she only said : 

‘‘ Ghosts, Mr. Michael ! I don't believe in 
such things ! '' 

“ Yet you saw a ghost, or something like one, 
standing by my aunt's bed ? '' urged he. 

‘Mt was my fancy, I suppose,'' said the woman, 
looking uneasily round her, but with her lips still 
pressed tightly together with that obstinate look 
which put a bar to his hopes of making her 
speak out. 

‘‘Tell me, was it a girl you saw?” Michael 
went on, seizing her by the arm, and looking into 
her face. “ A tall girl with long, dark hair, eh ? ” 

“ I don't know, I don't know what it was. It 
was the curtain, most likely, that I fancied was a 
figure. Indeed, indeed, Mr. Michael, I don't 
know what it was, so it’s no use asking me.” 

And he had to give up the attempt to make 
her speak with a muttered exclamation compli- 
mentary neither to his aunt nor to her. 

As he expected, he soon found that a change 
had come over Miss Farebrother's intentions 
since the previous day. She came down-stairs in 
the course of the morning, after breakfasting, as 
usual, in her own room, and her younger nephew 
seized the first opportunity of being a moment 
alone with her to ask whether she had carried out 
her intention of writing to Mr. Buckle. A look 


A Desperate Game 

of annoyance appeared instantly on the face of the 
old lady who had been very snappish to every- 
body, including, so Michael was glad to find, her 
dear friend Mrs. Skates. Only the Doctor had, 
in a measure, escaped her displeasure. 

‘‘ Mr. Buckle ! ” echoed she, icily, raising her 
eyebrows. What should I write to Mr. Buckle 
for ? 

“ You know, my dear aunt,” said her nephew, 
assuming his most priggish tone and manner, 
you informed me yesterday that it was your 
intention to inform Mr. Buckle of certain dis- 
positions which you had made without his knowl- 
edge.” 

Miss Farebrother pinched up her lips. 

Did I say that ?” she said, with a little shrug 
of her shoulders. Well, then I’ve changed my 
mind. I have nothing to say to Mr. Buckle, and 
I don’t intend to inform him of anything I’ve done. 
It’s open to you to do so, if you like, of course. 
But I don’t know of what advantage it would be 
to you, I confess.” 

Michael, scarcely able to control his feelings, 
turned abruptly from his aunt. A cold chill went 
down his back when he saw, standing just inside 
the room, still as a statue, and with the eternal 
smile upon her face, the ever-watchful Mrs. Skates. 
He had not heard her come in, but he felt pretty 
sure that she had heard the few words which had 
passed between his aunt and himself, and when 
she came purring up, with the heavy-footed yet 
gliding step he knew so well, and murmured. 
“ Is there anything I can do for you, dearest ? ” 


no 


A Desperate Game 

he felt that he should have liked to put his hands 
on her broad, comfortable shoulders, and race her 
out of the house, and down the road and into the 
sea. 

He found out his brother, and the two held a 
consultation, which resulted in their both making 
up their minds to leave the Abbey without further 
delay. Gaspard was delighted to find his brother 
ready to do this. 

It’s humiliating,” said he. It’s disgusting 
that we should hang about here as we’re doing, 
waiting for dead men’s shoes. It isn’t as if we 
were cripples, or even as if we were without a shil- 
ling. Let’s be off this very day, see old Buckle, 
let him know what’s going on here, and then turn 
to and find something to do up in London.” 

“ Why not go back to the ranch ? ” suggested 
Michael. 

But he himself did not urge this with any great 
enthusiasm, and Gaspard received the suggestion 
without any enthusiasm at all. Then they both 
looked at each other askance, and began to laugh. 

‘‘ It’s Madeline ! ” said Michael, nodding at his 
brother. 

‘‘ It’s the Dresden shepherdess ! ” said Gaspard, 
nodding back. 

‘‘ Well,” admitted Michael, own I should 
like just to see how my shepherdess gets on with 
Aunt Lucilla ! And whether these Skateses will 
do their best to drive her away ! ” 

Gaspard stared at him in bewilderment for an 
instant, and then slapped his knee. 

By Jove ! ” he cried, while his brother, recol- 


Ill 


A Desperate Game 

lecting himself, made a grimace and bit his lower 
lip. I see ! Your Dresden china shepherdess 
is the awfully pretty girl who’s coming here as 
companion to aunt. And you sent her here, of 
course ! You are an artful customer, Mike ! ” 
His brother gave him a thump on the back, 
half angry, half amused. 

‘‘ S-sh ! Hold your tongue ! ” said he, in a low 
voice. ‘‘ These walls are honey-combed, and I 
don’t want our precious friends, the Skateses, to 
know I had a hand in getting the little girl here. 
And she doesn’t know it herself, mind. 1 went to 
Miss Burns, and gave her instructions to get Miss 
Bell, if she could, to come to my aunt, but not 
to say who sent her. I should like to think there 
was somebody in 'the house who was not on the 
side of these adventurers, when we have to leave 
the poor old lady at their mercy.” 

Gaspard looked grave. 

If 1 thought as badly of them as you do,” he 
said, I wouldn t leave the house on any account. 
Td risk the misery and discomfort of the position, 
and everything. . Why, man alive! If things 
were as bad as you fancy, aunt’s very life wouldn’t 
be safe 1 You say this last will of hers leaves 
everything to the Doctor in trust for us. Well, 
what’s to prevent him, if that is so, and if he is the 

rogue you think, from murdering her to ” 

‘‘ S-sh ! ” whispered Michael, sharply. 

And then the two brothers looked at each other 
with excitement and dread in every feature. 

I’ve thought of that myself,” said the younger 
at last in a low voice. “ But even I don’t think 


I 12 


A Desperate Game 

as badly of the old boy as that. There's many a 
degree of roguery between enjoying what you can 
get of a kind but rather silly old lady’s money, 
and what you think.” 

His voice sank to an awe-struck whisper. 

But Gaspard took the possibility even more 
seriously than his brother did. 

Look here,” said he, at last, this is too 
grave a business to be settled off-hand by you and 
me. Before we do anything, leave this place or 
take any step whatever, we must consult Mr. 
Buckle, tell him the whole state of affairs, and 
ask his advice.” 

“ All right,” said Michael. We will. You 
and I will go up and see him to-morrow.” 

But Gaspard suggested an amendment to this 
proposition : 

‘‘ Not both of us,” said he You’ve put such 
ideas into my head that I should feel uneasy if we 
were both to be away from the house at the same 
time. I hope it’s all right : I may say I believe 
it is. But I can’t feel comfortable till I’ve heard 
the opinion of an outsider. So you shall go up 
to-morrow. It was you who heard about the will 
from my aunt’s own lips ; then we’ll be guided by 
his advice. Ifhe says it’s perfectly safe to leave 
her to these people, we’ll pack up our traps and 
be off at once. As for Madeline, why, bless her 
heart, I believe she’ll wait for me ; and if only I 
have decent luck, she won’t have to wait long ! ” 

Michael rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 

‘‘ My love affair isn’t so well developed as 
yours/’ he said after a pause. But I own I 


A Desperate Game 113 

should have liked to see my little shepherdess 
again before going away ! She’s to come here on 
Monday, I believe. Couldn’t we pocket our pride 
and wait here till then ? It’s only four days. 
And we really ought to get a chance to impress 
upon her that we want great care taken of my 
aunt, now oughtn’t we ? ” 

“ H’m,” said Gaspard, well, we’ll decide when 
we’ve heard what old Buckle has to say.” 

By the by,” said Michael, as he was on his 
way to the door, Mrs. Skates heard me mention 
Buckle to my aunt, so she’ll be on the alert as to 
what I am going to do when she hears I’m going 
up to town.” 

“ Then don’t say you’re going up to town,” re- 
torted Gaspard. 

The day passed uneasily for every one at the 
Abbey, except the Doctor, who was as cheery and 
genial as ever, and who appeared to be utterly un- 
conscious that everybody was not as happy as 
himself. 

Miss Farebrother was decidedly cross, Mrs, 
Skates was submissive and watchful ; the two 
young men were silent and ill at ease. 

At dinner that evening, the Doctor rather sur- 
prised the rest by announcing that he should have 
to go up to town on the following day, to order 
some new clothes. Michael instantly began to 
wonder what was up.” 

Why, Doctor, I thought you hated London, 
and never even went through it if you could help 
it,” said Miss Farebrother. 

That’s quite true,” said he. I hate the fog 


A Desperate Game 

and the smoke, the noise and the crowd. But 
even I have to confess that the London tailor is 
superior to his country brother, and you would 
have to confess the same thing, if I asked you to 
walk down the street with me in a frock-coat, 
designed and built by our local sartorial ‘ artiste.' 

After dinner the brothers consulted together. 

“You won't care to go up by the same train 
with him ? " suggested Gaspard. 

Michael shook his head. 

“No. I shall go by the next. It’s a con- 
founded nuisance though, to have to miss the only 
decent train of the morning ! I wonder what’s 
in the wind ! ” 

“ Why, there’s nothing so very extraordinary 
in his going up to his tailor’s, is there ? 

“Yes, there is. What does he want with new 
clothes ? It’s odd, too, that, so far as we can find 
out, he’s never once been to town before since 
he’s been down here ! ” 

“ Oh,'tome now, you’re too suspicious for any- 
thing ! You’ll find something wrong in his go- 
ing to the post-office to buy himself a penny stamp 
next ! ” 

Michael, however, would not be convinced that 
the doctor was not influenced by some dark design. 

The next morning Mrs. Skates drove the doctor 
to the station to catch the early express ; but 
Michael who said nothing to anybody of his in- 
tention to go to town also, started by himself an 
hour and a half later, leaving Gaspard to make 
his excuses for his absence from luncheon. 

The offices of Messrs. Buckle and Maddox 


A Desperate Game ”5 

were in Lincoln's Inn, in one of the gloomies 
and barest looking houses of that gloomy and 
bare neighborhood. It was a dull, dark day, and 
Michael moped his way up the old staircase in a 
state of gloomy depression befitting the atmos- 
phere. He had reached the first-floor, and was 
stretching out his hand towards the handle of the 
clerk's office, when a cheery voice behind him, a 
voice that he knew, made him start. 

He had no need to turn to see that the genial 
person, talking and laughing heartily, who came 
out of Mr. Buckle's private office at that moment, 
shaking that gentleman by the hand as he bade 
him good-by, was Dr. Skates himself. 


CHAPTER X. 

Michael felt, as the old women say, that his 
heart leaped to his mouth. He did not turn round, 
and in the darkness he was able to flatter himself 
that he escaped recognition by the genial Doctor. 

It was, however, with a sense of deepest despon- 
dency that he met the old lawyer, a few minutes 
later, when he was admitted into his office. 

Mr. Buckle, who had not seen either of the 
young men since their return from America, did 
not, Michael was conscious, exhibit any particular 
enthusiasm of welcome to Michael. 

“ Ah, Michael ! " he said, as he gave the young 
man two fingers, and looked him up and down, 
“ so you're back in England. I've been hearing 


”6 A Desperate Game 

something about you and your brother this 
morning.” 

And he glanced at some notes he had been 
making on a sheet of paper. 

“ From Dr. Skates, I suppose ? ” said Michael. 
“ I saw him come out of your room just now. 
May I ask if you’d seen him before to-day ? ” 

“ Well, no, in point of fact, I had not,” admitted 
the lawyer, looking at Michael over his spectacles. 

And the young man leaped to the prompt con- 
clusion that the astute Doctor had been before- 
hand with him. 

‘‘ It seems that you and your brother have not 
tried to make yourselves very agreeable to your 
aunt and her friends ! ” said Mr. Buckle drily. 

‘‘ He told you that, I suppose ? ” 

‘‘ Well, he told me that you and your brother 
had taken offence at finding him and his wife stay- 
ing in the house, and had taken to playing tricks 
on your aunt at night, by which she has been a 
good deal upset.” 

“ Oh, indeed,” said Michael, looking down, and 
exercising strong self-control. 

' “ Well, what have you to say to that? ” 

‘‘ I think I should like to hear a little more of 
what the Doctor accuses us of before I answer 
you, sir,” said Michael quietly. 

‘‘ Oh, he didn’t want to accuse you of anything. 
On the contrary, it seems he, and more particu- 
larly his wife, have taken a great fancy to you 
both, even to the extent of the lady’s having pro- 
posed to leave her money to one or other of 
you.” 


A Desperate Game ”7 

Michael looked* up quickly. 

Oh, indeed. Very kind of her,” said he in a 
stifled voice. 

Mr. Buckle looked at him with a slight frown. 

“ Is there any particular reason why you should 
sneer at the idea of a bequest from Mrs. Skates ? ” 

I think, sir,” said Michael, ‘‘ that there's a 
great deal more chance that Mrs. Skates will get 
a bequest herself than that she will leave one to 
us.” 

“ Ah ! Now we're coming to it,” said Mr. 
Buckle. 

Yes, sir, now we are. This Dr. Skates, I 
suppose, has been making out to you that we're 
a pair of ill-conditioned, ungrateful rascals, who 
have been planting ourselves in my aunt's house, 
trying to upset all her arrangements, and making 
everybody uncomfortable.” 

Well, you do seem to have succeeded in that 
last object, if it was your object,” said Mr. Buckle. 
‘‘It seems you consider yourselves aggrieved 
because your aunt has chosen to make fresh 
acquaintances during your absence, and that you 
have taken upon yourselves to disapprove of her 
having invited them to stay with her.” 

The lawyer paused, and looked at Michael, 
who only nodded, and said : 

‘‘ Go on, please.” 

“ Well, Dr. Skates very naturally resents your 
taking this attitude. He says that you and your 
brother have chosen to treat him as if he were an 
adventurer and a person to be mistrusted, and 
that you have made him and his wife so uncom- 


A Desperate Game 

fortable that, unless you alter your behavior, they 
will have to leave the Abbey.” 

“ I wish to Heaven they would ! ” burst out 
Michael. 

“Ah!” said the lawyer. “Then you admit 
your prejudice ? ” 

“ 1 admit my dislike, but I don’t admit it’s 
founded on prejudice,” said Michael bluntly. 
“ When we came back ” 

The lawyer interrupted. 

“ By the by, what made you come back ? ” he 
asked sharply. 

“ Well, we’d been warned that things were not 
going on all right at the Abbey.” 

“ And who gave you this warning ? ” 

“ I’d rather not say.” 

Mr. Buckle shrugged his shoulders. 

“If it was some old servant, jealous of new 
friends and new faces ” he began. 

“ It was not a servant,” said Michael. “When 
we came back we found my aunt entirely changed 
to us.” 

“ I think she found some change in you, did 
she not ? ” asked the lawyer. “ At least, I under- 
stand that you, Michael, thought fit to turn up 
in the guise of a Methodist parson, and to assume 
a particularly unpleasant and priggish demeanor. 
I confess I see no signs of it in you myself, but 
perhaps it is a disguise you only put on for special 
occasions.” 

Michael had indeed thought it better to drop 
both his new clothes and his new manner of speech 
for this visit to the lawyer, and it maddened him 


119 


A Desperate Game 

to see how the charges were accumulating against 
him. After a short silence he said : ‘‘ May I ask, 
sir, whether Dr. Skates told you that my aunt has 
made a fresh will ? ” 

“ Oh, yes. And it seems you resent that also. 
But surely she has a right ” 

“And do you know that Dr. Skates is made 
sole trustee, and that my brother and I are to be 
left entirely at his mercy ? went on Michael. 

“Yes, I do. But I don’t see that that is the 
doctor’s fault, since it appears it was your aunt’s 
own wish to leave her property to some person 
in whom she could rely, in trust for you.” 

“ Is it true that she suggested that you should 
be that person, and that you refused ? ” asked 
Michael. 

The lawyer shook his head. 

“ As to a portion of her estate, yes, but not to 
the whole of it,” said he. 

“ And do you think it is wise to trust a com- 
parative stranger to such an extent ? ” went on 
Michael. 

“ A stranger, certainly not,” said Mr. Buckle, 
promptly. “ But not only is Dr. Skates not a 
stranger to Miss Farebrother, but he is, or ap- 
pears to be, a man in every way suitable, if a guar- 
dian is necessary, for the office of guardian. He 
gave me the fullest particulars as to his family 
connections ” 

“ Which you have not had time to verify,” put 
in Michael. 

“ But I shall do so,” said Mr. Buckle rather 
severely. “ I was going to add that he is a rich 
man, and therefore 


A Desperate Game 

“ But how will you be able to verify that ? *’ 
asked Michael. 

The old lawyer grew impatient. He waved 
his hand in dignified protest. 

Are you here to put me under examination ? ” 
he asked sharply. “ I repeat. Miss Farebrother 
has a right to choose her own friends, and to leave 
her property in her own way. And although I 
consider, in a general way, such a disposition as 
she has made not the best that could be made, it 
certainly seems to me, as far as I can judge, that 
there is nothing more to be said against Dr. 
Skates in the character of trustee than might be 
said against any other man in such a position.” 

Michael rose to his feet. 

“ Very well then, sir, I need not take up any 
more of your time. It was to consult you about 
this Dr. Skates that I came up here to-day. If 
you had not been prejudiced against me before- 
hand by this impostor ” 

Oh, I must really beg ” 

‘‘ Oh, you’ll find out that he is an impostor 
before long,” retorted Michael recklessly. I 
say, if you had been ready to listen to me, you 
would have seen that my case — our case, is 
stronger than you will allow. However, it can’t 
be helped. I came to tell you that my brother 
and I have made up our minds to leave the Abbey, 
and to make a start in life on our own account, 
as, if her latest will holds good, neither Gaspard 
nor I will ever have a chance of touching a shil- 
ling of my aunt’s money.” 

“ Really, you must ” 


A Desperate Game 

“ Oh, it wasn’t about that that I came to trou- 
ble you. But I wish you to know that my aunt’s 
maid, who was with her so many years, has been 
sent away by these people, the Skateses, and that 
my brother and I are uneasy at having to leave my 
aunt in the hands of two people whom we consider 
to be impostors and adventurers, especially as, in 
the present condition of affairs, they have every- 
thing to gain by her death. I won’t take up your 
time any longer.” 

Michael bowed and went quickly away, but not 
before he had noted a slight change in the expres- 
sion of the old lawyer’s face, which showed that 
the calmness and deliberation with which the young 
man had been careful to utter these last words had 
had their due effect. 

As he had nothing in particular to do in London 
now that his visit to the lawyer’s office was over, 
Michael resolved to go back to St. Mary’s-on-Sea 
by an early train, more especially as he was burn- 
ing with anxiety to tell his brother how cunningly 
Skates had forestalled him. 

After a walk, a luncheon, and a look at the 
shops, therefore, he got into a hansom and drove 
to Victoria, where, as he got out, he almost ran 
into Dr. Skates, who seized his hand with much 
heartiness, but showed such perfunctory surprise 
that the young man was convinced he had been 
recognized on the dark landing outside Mr. 
Buckle’s office. 

The Doctor insisted on walking into the station 
with him, though Michael, who was in no mood 
for his companionship, would fain have found 


122 


A Desperate Game 

some excuse for dispensing with his company. 
An accidental and rather mysterious circumstance, 
however, soon set him free. 

They had got on the platform, and the Doctor, 
talking loudly, cheerfully, and somewhat patron- 
izingly, as was his wont, was making a leisurely in- 
spection of the train from end to end before choos- 
ing a compartment for himself, when Michael no- 
ticed that a man whom they had passed once among 
the crowd on the platform, came back, and observed 
the Doctor and himself with a slightly furtive look. 
At first he thought this might be only a fancy ; 
but when he noticed that, wherever he and his 
companion might be, the same man was always in 
sight, and always at about the same distance away^ 
it occurred to Michael to look at him carefully. 
This he could do the more easily as he left the 
talking to the Doctor. 

The suspicious-looking person was a thin young 
man, respectably but not very well dressed, who 
looked like a third or fourth-rate lawyer’s clerk. 

Michael soon convinced himself that it was the 
Doctor whom the man was watching, and he be- 
came exceedingly anxious to know what it was 
that made the worthy Skates such an object of 
interest to the stranger. Perhaps his own interest 
in his companion’s chatter began to flag too visi- 
bly ; however that might be. Dr. Skates presently 
followed his companion’s gaze, and met the eyes 
of the thin young man. 

And in an instant he stopped talking, walked 
on in silence for a few moments, and then, with a 
muttered explanation that he had forgotten his 


A Desperate Game 123 

ticket, darted across the platform where the crowd 
was thickest, and into the station. 

The thin young man at once started in pursuit. 

Michael followed, more interested than ever. 
After a few moments* chase, in which he lost sight 
both of the Doctor and the stranger, Michael came 
face to face with the latter, who was looking flushed 
and angry. He at once addressed him. 

“ May I ask,** said he, “ if you are looking for 
Dr. Skates ? ** 

The young man stared at him suspiciously, and 
then looked round him again, without answering. 

No,** said he then, shortly. 

It occurred to Michael to wonder whether this 
man took him, Michael, for a confederate of the 
Doctor’s who was conniving at his getting away. 
So he went on quickly : 

“Not for Dr. Skates, the gentleman I was 
walking with just now ? Oh, very well then. If 
it had been he, I could have told you where he 
lives, that’s all.” 

And Michael turned away. He had only gone 
a few steps when the man came after him. 

“ I beg pardon,” said he, “ but I should be 
obliged if you could favor me with the party’s 
address.” 

“ Certainly. He’s staying at the Abbey, St. 
Mary*s-on-Sea, the residence of my aunt.” 

“ Oh ! ” said the man, stepping back, and again 
looking doubtful. 

“ The name by which he is known there,” said 
Michael, struck by a bright thought, “ is Skates.” 


124 


A Desperate Game 

“ Ah ! ” said the thin young man, “ when I 
knew him it was Macdonald.” 

“ And how long ago was that, may I ask ? ” 

Again the man hesitated, but at last he said : 

Two years ago. The fact is I had a writ to 
serve on him ” 

The manner in which Michael’s face lighted up 
showed him that it was quite safe to go on — for 
seven hundred pounds.” 

‘‘Was he a rich man when you knew him? ” 
asked Michael shortly. 

“ He lived like one,” replied the young man 
cautiously. “ Called himself a Professor of Mag- 
netic Healing ” 

“ That’s the man ! ” murmured Michael. 

“ He gave me the slip then, and he’s been lost 
sight of ever since. The Abbey, St. Mary’s-on 
Sea. Thank you, sir.” 

And without waiting for any further parley the 
man raised his hat and disappeared into the 
station. 

Michael had lost his train, but he did not care. 
He knew that the Doctor had managed to slip 
into it, for he perceived his head looking cautiously 
out for a moment, no doubt to ascertain whether 
his pursuer was in sight. Happily, the thin man 
had disappeared, and Michael had reason to hope 
that the meeting between himself and the clerk 
had not been seen by the Doctor. At the same 
time, it was by no means certain that that astute 
person had not found out the danger he was in, 
and Michael was now doubly anxious to get to 


A Desperate Game 1^5 

St. Mary’s in order to find out whether this scare 
had been enough to drive the Skateses away. 

As he went, however, doubts began to worry 
him again, and the knowledge that his antagonist 
was a clever and unscrupulous man made him ask 
himself whether Skates would not sail out of this 
difficulty as he had sailed out of others. 

When, having got to St. Mary’s-on-Sea by the 
next train, he caught sight of the thin young man 
walking across the road in the direction of the 
Abbey at a swift pace, having evidently come 
down in the same train as himself, Michael felt his 
heart leap up, and began to hope for an early 
checkmate to Skates. 

If it could be proved that the Doctor had evaded 
payment of seven hundred pounds by a prompt 
disappearance, leaving no address, his position as 
a man of property was disposed of. 

Just before the thin man reached the Abbey 
gate, Michael came up with him and put a ques- 
tion to him : 

“ Where was Skates, or Macdonald, living when 
you knew him ? ” he asked. 

‘‘ In a street off Cavendish Square, sir.” 

‘‘Was there a Mrs. Macdonald ? ” 

“ I don’t know, sir. There was a niece, a Miss 
Macdonald, as her creditors know to their cost.” 

The same person, perhaps, thought Michael. 
But somehow it was rather a shock to associate 
this placid, dowdy, middle-aged lady with enor- 
mous extravagance. A doubt again crossed 
Michael’s mind. 


126 


A Desperate Game 

“ Was she a stout lady/’ said he, about half a 
dozen years younger than the Doctor? ” 

The man smiled. 

‘‘No, sir. She was a tall, dark young lady, 
with a beautiful figure ; one of the slimmest figures, 
without being what you would call thin, you ever 
saw. And dowdy! No fear! Why, her dress- 
maker’s bills would have swamped any man’s 
fortune ! ” 

Michael opened mouth and eyes at this intelli- 
gence. At that moment, as they entered the gate 
together, the figure of Mrs. Skates, in the full 
light of the illuminated dining-room, passed round 
the table, and was distinctly visible through the 
window, just before the servant drew down the 
blinds. 

“ Do you recognize that lady ? ” asked Michael 
quickly. “ That’s the woman who calls herself 
Mrs. Skates.” 

The man looked interested. He shook his 
head. 

“ No,” said he, “ that isn’t the Miss Macdonald 
that I knew ; she was half a head taller, and about 
a fourth of the size round, and at least twenty 
years younger.” 

“ Perhaps in two years she’s aged,” suggested 
Michael. 

The man looked at him and pursed up his 
mouth. 

“ Not the same lady, sir,” he said. “ Though 
there’s a look about the features, too, as if this 
one might have been her mother.” 

Michael started. He suddenly thought of the 


A Desperate Game ^^7 

tall, slim, dark lady who had almost succeeded in 
persuading Gaspard that she was a ghost. 

And a shiver went through him as he began to 
understand that there was a third party to the 
Skates conspiracy, and the most dangerous of all, 
since she managed to remain all but unseen. 


CHAPTER XI 

Michael and the stranger proceeded to the 
house together, and the former at once asked 
where Dr. Skates was, rather hoping to hear that 
he was out. But the answer came and dashed his 
hopes : 

“ He’s in the drawing-room, sir, with Miss 
Farebrother.” 

It was plain, therefore, that the Doctor meant 
to stand his ground. Furious, and reckless of 
consequences, Michael told the thin young man 
to follow him, and at once led the way to the 
drawing-room. 

“ There he is,” said he, as he threw open the 
door, and pointed to Dr. Skates, who was eating 
cake as he stood before the fire, and entertaining 
his hostess with some story at which she was laugh- 
ing heartily. 

The thin young man advanced into the room. 
Miss Farebrother looked at him inquiringly. 
The Doctor turned pale. Michael watched the 
scene from the other end of the room. 

I beg pardon, ma’am, for intruding,” said the 


1^8 A Desperate Game 

thin young man, going up to the Doctor as he 
spoke. 

“ Who are you ^ What do you want ? ” 

The young man took out a paper, and handed 
it to the Doctor, who was already recovering his 
usual color. 

“ What on earth’s this ? ” asked he, as he turned 
the paper over and over with an amused look on 
his face, which restored a little of Miss Fare- 
brother’s equanimity. 

“ At the suit of Richards and Turner, seven 
hundred and thirty-two pounds,” replied the man 
promptly. 

But 1 don’t owe Richards and Turner seven 
hundred and thirty-two pounds — never owed any- 
body so much in my life ! ” said the Doctor, open- 
ing the document and examining it with a frown of 
assumed bewilderment. And — why, look here, 
my man, you’ve made a mistake. This paper is 
for a Mr. Donald James Macdonald. My name’s 
Skates.” 

It was Macdonald when I knew you last, sir,” 
said the man with quiet doggedness. ‘‘ That’s 
all I have to do, sir. Good evening. With my 
apologies for intruding, madam.” 

The man retreated at once from the room, 
leaving consternation in the. breast of Miss Fare- 
brother, who turned to the Doctor with exclama- 
tions and eager, querulous questionings. He ap- 
peared to be lost in amazement. 

“ What does this mean, Doctor ? Isn’t your 
name Skates ? Why — why — why have you 
allowed this, Michael ? ” 


A Desperate Game ^'^9 

And she turned angrily to her nephew. 

“ Of course my name is Skates,” replied the 
Doctor, as, struck apparently by a new idea, he 
walked quickly to the door in his turn. ‘‘ If you’ll 
excuse me. Miss Farebrother, I’ll go and speak 
to this man. It’s a trick — a trick which Mr. 
Farebrother has thought proper to play upon me. 
I’m sure.” 

And as he passed Michael he looked at him 
with such fury in his usually mild-looking eyes 
that the nature within was once more revealed to 
the younger man. 

The moment the Doctor had left the room. Miss 
Farebrother turned angrily to her nephew. She 
was almost hysterical, and not in a condition for 
argument. 

‘‘ How dare you do this ? You ought to be 
ashamed of yourself! To play such a trick upon 
a guest of mine ! And before me, too ! I’m 
surprised, or rather I should be surprised if you 
weren’t always doing something to annoy and dis- 
tress me ! ” 

Michael went up to her, and tried to soothe 
her. He was very gentle, very apologetic. 

“ Tm sorry to have had to do it before you. 
Aunt,” he said. “ But it had to be done, and 
you had to be convinced that Dr. Skates is not the 
estimable person he wishes you to think him.” 

‘‘ What do you mean ? ” 

I mean that he has been known under 
another name before, and that under that name 
he ran up bills, and then, disappearing without 
paying them, he now turns up under an alias.” 

9 


^30 A Desperate Game 

“ Oh, but I don’t believe it. It can’t be true ! 
It’s part of the plot you have made, you and your 
brother, to separate me from any friends but 
those of your own choosing ! ” cried Miss Fare- 
brother, with excitement. “ The Doctor has told 
me that he met you in London to-day going into 
Mr. Buckle’s office. Pray what were you doing 
there, if you were not trying to poison his mind 
against Dr. Skates ? ” 

Michael was for a moment silent. 

‘‘ I might as well ask,” he said presently, 
“ what Dr. Skates was doing there if he was not 
poisoning Mr. Buckle’s mind against me.” 

“ I think, considering what you professed to 
think of Mr. Buckle’s opinion, it ill becomes you 
to maintain the same tone against the doctor now 
that you did before. You can’t deny. I’m sure, 
that Mr. Buckle formed a very different opinion 
of Dr. Skates from your own.” 

Michael shrugged his shoulders. 

‘‘ It doesn’t much matter, aunt, what opinion 
I have formed upon that or any other subject,” 
he said quietly. “ Since you prefer these strangers 
to your own relations, you have a perfect right to 
wish them to stay with you instead of us.” 

“ Did I ever make any objection to your stay- 
ing here ? ” asked Miss Farebrother irritably. 

But to this Michael replied with some fire : 

“ If you think we’re content to stay anywhere 
on sufferance, simply because no active objection 
has been taken to our remaining, you understand 
us much less than you used to do, Aunt.” 

‘^You’re quite right. I don’t understand you 


A Desperate Game 13 1 

at all. I can’t think why you don’t choose to 
live here at peace with my friends, instead of dis- 
turbing my household and making yourselves ob- 
jectionable to my guests in the way you have 
thought proper to do.” 

“ Well, we shan’t make ourselves objectionable 
to anybody here much longer. We’re going 
away, going to live in London, both of us,” said 
Michael rather dryly. 

‘‘ Indeed,” said Miss Farebrother, trying to 
speak easily, but betraying some slight concern 
by the look in her eyes. ‘‘ I hope you’ve con- 
sidered well what the consequences of such a step 
may be to you.” 

“We’ve considered a good deal more carefully 
what the consequences may be to you. Aunt,” 
said her nephew boldly. “ However, there’s no 
help for it ; you have resolved to shut your ears 
to anything that you may be told which could re- 
flect upon these people, even when you see the 
proof before your eyes, as you did just now.” 

Miss Farebrother grew a little pale, and began 
to look doubtful. She was on the point of put- 
ting an anxious question to her nephew as to the 
stranger who had intruded upon them, when the 
Doctor came back into the room, laughing 
heartily. 

As soon as he was able to control himself suf- 
ficiently to speak, he went straight up to Michael 
and held out his hand to him. Furious, per- 
plexed, the young man chose not to see this ges- 
ture, but hastily turned away, leaving the Doctor 
in the middle of the room, near his hostess. Dr. 


‘32 A Desperate Game 

Skates turned to her at once, with a shrug of the 
shoulders and a comical but good-humored ex- 
pression. 

“ He won’t forgive me ! Mr. Farebrother 
won’t forgive me for my accusation ! ” he ex- 
claimed in assumed melancholy. “ But 1 really 
think he might. I did indeed think this was a 
trick he had played upon me ! ” 

“ And wasn’t it a trick, Doctor ? ” asked Miss 
Farebrother querulously. 

‘‘Not a bit of it,” replied the doctor in his 
cheeriest tones. “ The man really did honestly 
believe me to be the man he wanted, a certain 
Professor or tutor or something, named Mac- 
donald, who owed some hundreds of pounds to a 
firm to whom he gave the slip a few years ago.” 

“ But what made him take you for another 
man ? ” persisted Miss Farebrother quickly. 

“ Personal resemblance, I believe,” said Dr. 
Skates, growing graver as he saw that the lady was 
not disposed to look upon the adventure as lightly 
as he did. “He showed me a photograph of the 
man, and it was certainly true that there was some 
superficial likeness between him and me.” 

“ I should like to see the portrait. Do let us 
see the picture. Doctor,” said Miss Farebrother. 

“ But the man’s gone away,” said the doctor, 
in apparent dismay. 

Michael started, and went quickly across the 
room to the door. As he did so he caught a 
glance of the doctor’s eye, which suddenly con- 
vinced him, by the expression of triumph in it, 
that his pursuit would be in vain. He would not 


133 


A Desperate Game 

be balked, however, without an effort. So, leav- 
ing the house at once, he made for the station, 
where, after waiting about for an hour in the ex- 
pectation of meeting the stranger who had served 
the writ, he discovered, by an accidental question 
to a porter, that the person of whom he was in 
search had taken a fly before Michael’s arrival at 
the station, and driven to the next town about 
two miles away, from which place he could catch 
a train to London by another line. 

Michael raged inwardly, feeling certain that 
this was a ruse by which Dr. Skates had got rid 
of an unwelcome visitor. There was nothing for 
it but to return, defeated and suspicious, to the 
Abbey, where he arrived in the middle of dinner. 
He slipped into his place with a hasty apology to 
his aunt, and noticed without surprise that, al- 
though, in the presence of the servants, no refer- 
ence was made to the event of the afternoon, every 
face showed traces of the unusual emotions which 
had been stirred. 

Miss Farebrother was cross and cold ; the Doc- 
, tor was genial, and almost mockingly jubilant ; 
Mrs. Skates was somewhat silent, and cast anxious 
glances at Michael when she thought he was not 
looking ; while poor Gaspard, who had been out 
all day, for the most part in the vicinity of the 
Vicarage, was puzzled and worried by the disturb- 
ance in the home atmosphere, of which he could 
not fail to be conscious. The brothers seized 
the first opportunity of exchanging confidences. 
When Gaspard heard of the meeting outside Mr. 
Buckle’s office, he shook his head, and said : 


134 


A Desperate Game 

“ That man’s too clever for us, Michael ! ” 

H is brother laughed. 

Wait till you hear a little more,” said he, 
‘^and you’ll think him cleverer still.” 

And he told the whole story of the accidental 
meeting with the writ- server, and of the incidents 
which followed. Then Gaspard threw back his 
head with a hollow laugh. 

“ It’s more than clever — it’s diabolical,” said 
he, bitterly. “ How can you suppose, for a mo- 
ment, that we can protect either ourselves or our 
aunt from such a demon as the fellow is ? ” 

‘‘Wait a moment,” said Michael, who, screwed 
up in his own particular armchair, with one leg 
hanging over the arm nearest the fire, looked 
something like an imp of mischief himself. 
“ He’s got the best of the game so far, I admit. 
But one never knows when the luck may change. 
At any rate, we’ve learned something to-day, that 
he has passed at some time or other by the name 
of Macdonald.” 

“ Do you feel so sure even of that ? ” 

“ Course 1 do. Then, for another thing, we’ve 
found out that there’s a third conspirator — the 
doctor’s niece, who, by the description, must be 
the tall, dark young lady you took for a ghost.” 
Gaspard moved uneasily. 

“ I didn’t take anybody for a ghost,” he said, 

petulantly. “ I — I said ” 

“ You said you saw a tall, beautiful, shadowy 
young woman, with long, black hair, standing in 
the air beside my aunt’s bedside,” interrupted 
Michael deliberately. “You seemed inclined to 


A Desperate Game ^35 

to take her for a spirit ; I incline to take her for 
a flesh and blood accomplice of the Doctor and 
Mrs. Skates. Now, we must have a name for 
her, as we are sure to have some further acquaint- 
ance with the lady. Shall we call her ^ Laura,* 
favoring your supposition that she is the spirit 
that haunts this home ? Or shall we call her 
Miss Macdonald according to my theory that she 
is the Doctor’s niece ? ” 

Oh, call her what you like,” grumbled Gas- 
pard impatiently. “ But I tell you it’s impossible 
that these people can keep a person concealed 
about the house without anybody’s knowing any- 
thing about it, and equally impossible that they 
can keep one near at hand, and introduce her into 
the building at any hour of the day or night they 
find convenient. Such things might be done in 
a town, but not in a country place like this.” 

Michael puffed at his cigarette. 

“ Not by anybody but our Satanic friend, but 
he’s not a personage to let the impossibility of a 
thing stand in his way.” 

‘‘ Then what’s the good of trying to fight him ? ” 

‘‘ Come, Gaspard, you’ve no spirit. It’s the 
keenness of the struggle that makes the fun of it. 
I’m not going to be beaten without a contest. In 
the first place, then — ” He paused, and signified 
to his brother by a wave of the hand that he was 
to open the door suddenly, and find out if any- 
body was listening outside. 

This Gaspard did, but with no result. Possi- 
bly the doctor felt too secure to trouble his head 
any longer about keeping himself informed of 


136 A Desperate Game 

the confidences of the young men. Gaspard came 
back rather sulkily. 

“ We’re only making fools of ourselves by 
staying here,” said he. ‘‘ We can’t even protect 
our aunt if, as you say, they manage to introduce 
themselves into her room at night. They may 
frighten her to death any day, without our being 
able to prevent it.” 

I’m going to stay till Monday, at any rate,” 
said Michael doggedly. 

“ Oh, your shepherdess ! ” scoffed Gaspard. 

“ Well, she’s one reason. But another is that 
I want to know what means our dear friend 
Skates will employ to get hold of the money he 
wants to satisfy the people who are suing him.” 

“ I don’t believe in this Macdonald story. He 
seems too easy, too confident.” 

“ But he took care not to let me meet the 
man again,” said Michael. “ So I haven’t the 
least doubt that he told him he’d settle up in a 
day or two, and — that he means to do it.” 

He’ll borrow it from aunt,” suggested Gas- 
pard. 

No, he can’t, for she would suspect him at 
once. She was a good deal surprised and dis- 
turbed, and if he were to ask for the loan of a 
large sum like that, she’d put two and two to- 
gether, and he’d be discredited directly.” 

He’ll get it for his charities then ! ” 

“ That plan would be open to the same objec- 
tion. Now, it was after ‘ Laura’s’ nocturnal visit 
that aunt became unmanageable before. Laura 
must be kept away from her for a night or two.” 


A Desperate Game i37 

‘‘ How will you manage that ? ” asked his 
brother. 

There are two or three unoccupied rooms 
near my aunt’s. I shall plant myself in one of 
them, and watch,” said Michael, in a low voice. 

“ And all you’ll catch for your pains will be a 
violent cold in the head,” said Gaspard, scofF- 
ingly, as he got up to go to his own room. 

Perhaps,” said Michael, drily. 


CHAPTER XII 

Miss Farebrother’s three rooms were at the 
back of the house, overlooking the garden, and 
on the opposite side of the corridor were three other 
rooms, one of which was used by her maid as a 
workroom, while the others were usually kept 
shut up. 

The two rooms occupied respectively by Dr. 
and Mrs. Skates opened upon a corridor which 
was a continuation of that into which Miss Fare- 
brother’s own rooms opened. It was higher, how- 
ever, by a couple of steps, and between these two 
portions of the house was the opening to the prin- 
cipal staircase, up and down. 

In the old days Miss Farebrother’s two nephews 
had occupied the rooms now given up to the 
doctor and his wife. Both the young men had 
been rather surprised to find themselves now rel- 
egated to the upper floor ; but it began to dawn 
upon Michael that the influence of Mrs. Skates had 


138 A Desperate Game 

been at work, and that she might have had strong 
reasons for choosing that, during the night at 
least, he and his brother should be well out of 
the way. 

Michael waited that night until the house was ^ 
quite quiet, and then he came downstairs without 
his slippers, and stole as noiselessly as possible to 
the workroom door, which was nearly opposite 
his aunt’s bedroom. He had found out that Jar- 
man, though she still slept in Miss Farebrother’s 
dressing-room, now had to keep the door shut, so 
that she could no longer be a witness to any “ vis- 
ions ” by her mistress’ bedside. 

The workroom door was not locked, and he 
was able to enter and seat himself near the door, 
which he kept ajar, without fear of having been 
heard. Fortunately, the room had been used dur- 
ing the evening, and the fire had not been out 
long, so that he could keep his vigil without risk 
of getting benumbed by the cold. 

It seemed a long time, however, before the 
creaking of a distant board warned him to be on 
the alert. Rising at once, and gently pushing 
open the door, he ventured to look out. It was 
quite dark, and he saw nothing ; but he presently 
heard another creaking sound, slight indeed, but 
nearer than the first noise had been. He held 
his breath. There was a long silence, and then 
he caught the sound of the handle of a door being 
softly turned. 

In an instant he was out in the corridor, making 
a blind dash for the door of his aunt’s room. 
He had made a shrewd guess, and his action was 


A Desperate Game 

so swift that he left no time for escape or for 
caution. He found that he had hurled himself, 
not against a ghost, but against a solid human 
being, and the cry, subdued, but full of alarm, 
which that being uttered, betrayed her for a 
woman. 

Michael never uttered a sound. Putting one 
arm round his prize, he began to draw her in the 
direction of the workroom, and although she 
struggled and fought with great vigor, his superior 
muscle prevailed, and inch by inch he got her 
nearer to the door. 

All this time he had been trying to find out 
something by which to identify his prisoner, in 
case she should manage to give him the slip be- 
fore he was able to get a light. But in the cir- 
cumstances this was a very difhcult matter. His 
first suspicion when he knew that it was a woman 
he had caught, he had had to dismiss by this time. 
Instead of the wide waist and broad shoulders of 
Mrs. Skates, he had his arm round a slender and 
girlish form, while he had also discovered, under 
some filmy, soft material which seemed to be 
swathed round the figure, strands of long hair. 
He was certain now that he had caught the woman 
whom Gaspard had described by the bedside of his 
aunt ; but the difficulty now was to identify her. 
Reviewing rapidly, as he held her, his chances of 
finding her out, he decided that if he could get 
her into the workroom, he would make no attempt 
to get a light, but would make for the bell by the 
fireplace, and try to rouse the household by that 
means. 


HO A Desperate Game , 

His task, however, was by no means a light 
one, and it would have been easy to tell, by the 
intensity of the woman's struggles, that something 
more than a childish trick was involved in the 
threatened discovery. 

In the last resort Michael had made up his 
mind that he would shout ; but standing as they 
were just outside his aunt's room, he was afraid of 
the effect upon Miss Farebrother of any sudden 
disturbance. It was known that her heart was 
weak, and a discovery of this kind made in 
sensational circumstances in the middle of the 
night was a danger for her not to be lightly 
risked. 

Michael had got his prisoner to the very door 
of the workroom, when he heard a tiny crash or 
glass, and there flashed through his mind the 
notion that the woman might be carrying upon 
her person a little electric lamp. Desisting for a 
moment, therefore, in his attempt to drag her 
into the room, he felt for the battery, which, in 
that case, she must be carrying about her person. 

The moment he began to do this, the woman 
seized his hand, and began in an agitated whisper, 
in which he in vain tried to recognize any voice 
he had ever heard, to appeal to his feelings. 

“ What are you going to do to me ? Why 
won't you let me go ? " implored the voice. 

Michael answered in a voice as low as her own, 
but without relaxing his hold. 

“ I'll let you go at once if you'll tell me who 
you are," said he, “and what you were doing at 
the door of Miss Farebrother’s room." 


A Desperate Game hi 

There was a pause. 

“ I daren't tell you," was the whisper back. 
“ I daren't, I daren't ! " 

For answer to this, Michael, with a sudden move- 
ment, pushed open the door of the workroom, 
and at the same moment got the woman inside. 

Whether it was an accidental result of the un- 
expectedness of his action, or whether it was a 
stratagem on the part of his prisoner, Michael 
could not be sure ; but the next moment he found 
that she had fallen to the ground. Then she 
uttered a sharp cry of pain. 

Of course, Michael was shocked ; of course he 
relaxed his hold. Equally, of course, the femi- 
nine prisoner took instant advantage of this, and 
was up and away in a moment, slamming the door 
to behind her. 

The enraged Michael made a dash at the es- 
caping figure, but it was a dash in the dark, and 
all he got for his pains was a morsel of some soft 
material that tore in his hands, before the door 
was closed between him and his lost prize. 

Of course, the consequences were terrible. Miss 
Farebrother was roused from her sleep by the 
slamming door, and sent Jarman out to know the 
meaning of the noise. Dr. Skates came out pres- 
ently in his dressing-gown, candle in hand, to 
ask solicitously if Miss Farebrother had been 
taken ill. Mrs. Skates appeared at her door, 
full of feminine questions, of nervous fears ; and 
poor Michael, who had thought it best not to at- 
tempt to escape, found himself the target for 
everybody's displeasure. 


A Desperate Game 

He had hastily secreted the poor trophy of his 
conflict with the unseen woman, and the ex- 
planation he gave was that he had been aroused 
by a noise, and had come down, thinking there 
were burglars in the house. It was while in pur- 
suit of some one whom he supposed to be a 
burglar, he said, that the door of the workroom 
had been slammed, not by him. 

By this time some of the servants had appeared 
on the scene, and a tour of the house was made, 
under the direction of Dr. Skates, who affected to 
be seriously alarmed, and to take Michael’s view 
that some one had got in. 

Michael raged inwardly, and conducted a 
search on his own account, knowing well how 
careful the Doctor would be to lead the rest off 
the scent instead of on it. But his efforts were 
unsuccessful, as, indeed, he had felt they were 
bound to be, since he was working alone, and 
the Doctor was not. 

Disheartened and dispirited, but not despairing, 
he went back to his own room, and did not take 
Gaspard into his confidence until the following 
morning, when he went early into his brother’s 
room and spread out upon the bed about half a 
yard of some bedraggled and flimsy stuff at 
which Gaspard looked with helpless bewilder- 
ment. 

“ What’s that rag ? ” he asked at last, as Mi- 
chael did not attempt to modify his sphinxlike 
look and attitude. 

‘‘ Part of your ghost ! ” said Michael shortly. 
‘^What?” 


A Desperate Game 143 

“ It’s part, I say, of the paraphernalia of the 
woman you saw in my aunt’s room masquerading 
as a spirit,” Michael explained deliberately. 
‘‘ And if you don’t believe me, look at this ! ” 

And he showed his brother some half-dozen 
very long black hairs, which had been left in his 
hands, together with part of her torn drapery, 
when his prisoner of the night made her success- 
ful struggle to get away. 

Gaspard turned white. All the trickery, all the 
knavery, evidences of which were accumulating 
round them, had upon him quite a different effect 
from that which they had upon his more energetic 
and less sensitive brother. They sickened, shocked 
him unspeakably. Michael, on the other hand, 
was only nerved to fresh exertions by each dis- 
covery. He hated to be beaten, and he felt a very 
natural and right disinclination to leave the artful 
and unscrupulous Dr. Skates and his wife in pos- 
session of the field. 

Let’s go away to-day,” said Gaspard, hoarse- 
ly, after a moment’s silence. 

“Not me,” retorted Michael between his set 
teeth. “Not till I’ve found out just how our 
friend means to make up the sum he has to pay 
to get out of his scrape. It’s evident the ‘ghost’ 
was meant to advise Aunt last night to pay out 
the money either to the Doctor or to some confed- 
erate of his.” 

“ What ! How can you tell ” 

• “ I can’t tell, of course, for certain. But I can 
make a good guess,” said Michael. “It was 
after the last visit of the ‘ spirit ’ that Aunt sud- 


144 A Desperate Game 

denly changed her mind about sending for old 
Buckle/’ 

‘‘ It wouldn’t have made much difference if she 
had sent for him,” put in Gaspard, despondently. 
Michael went on without heeding. 

‘‘ And I’m convinced the visit of last night was 
intended to help Skates out of this fresh difficulty. 
If only I could have seen her face, or heard her 
natural voice ! ” moaned he. ‘‘ But the minx was 
too artful for me.” 

“ I suppose,” suggested Gaspard, it’s one of 
the servants, whom they’ve bought over ? ” 
Michael shook his head doubtfully. 

‘‘ I thought of that,” said he ; ‘‘ but I don’t 
think there’s anything in it. The woman I caught 
was tall and very slight. Now there isn’t a woman 
in the house who’s tall and slight too, except poor 
old Jarman, who tumbled out of my aunt’s room 
in her old drab dressing-gown, with her little wisp 
of hair sticking up straight on her head, and her 
eyes like saucers with fright ! ” 

“ Why didn’t you follow the woman ? ” 

‘‘ How could I ? When the door was shut in 
my face she had time enough to get a start. When 
I got into the corridor she had disappeared, prob- 
ably into Mrs. Skates’s room, since both the Doc- 
tor and his wife must certainly have been on the 
watch. I wonder whether this bit of stuff and 
these long dark hairs will help us to hunt her to 
earth.” Michael examined the material careful- 
ly. “ Of course she wrapped this all round her, 
and I believe she had an electric light somewhere 
about her, which would be just veiled enough to 


A Desperate Game HS 

give the dim shadowy effect you described. I 
wonder what women call this, whether it's chiffon, 
or tulle, or tarlatan, or muslin, or what.” 

But here, of course, Gaspard was unable to help 
him. They fingered the stuff together, with very 
long faces bent over their work, but got no further 
in their investigation. Then Michael locked up 
the precious fragment and the long hair and hid 
them carefully away, and set himself to the day’s 
business of watching the Doctor. 

He did this to some purpose. 

During the whole of the forenoon he kept the 
worthy Doctor in sight, affecting to listen with in- 
terest to his account of the burglar-hunt of the 
night, and entirely conscious all the time that both 
the Doctor and his wife had heard every detail of 
his struggle with the mysterious ghost.’ 

Mrs. Skates, who was less brilliant as an actress 
than her husband was as an actor, did not so well 
disguise the anxiety she felt ; and while Michael 
watched the Doctor it was evident that the lady 
was watching Michael. 

Miss Farebrother, who was very cold to both 
her nephews, and rather cross to everybody, was 
persuaded to take a little walk in the garden, when 
luncheon was over, with the Doctor and his wife. 
True to his intention of keeping Dr. Skates under 
his eye, Michael watched the three from behind 
the muslin blind of one of the upper rooms. 

And presently he saw the Doctor drop behind 
the ladies, and disappear in the direction of the 
garden door into the house. Like an arrow from 
a bow Michael flew down-stairs to look for him. 

10 


146 A Desperate Game 

Standing in the passage which led from the hall 
to the west end of the house, Michael thought he 
heard a slight sound in the drawing-room. The 
door opened noiselessly, so he went in and looked 
round the screen. And there was the Doctor, 
standing close to Miss Farebrother's writing-table, 
the flowers on which were shaking slightly. 

Quiet as Michael’s movements had been, the 
Doctor turned quickly, and discovered his presence. 
He appeared, however, to be quite undisturbed. 

‘‘Ah, Farebrother ! ” cried he. “The house 
is the best place this afternoon, I think. I hope 
those ladies won’t stay out there long enough to 
catch cold. I think I must bring them in. Or 
will you go ? ” 

“ I think. Doctor, you have more influence 
than I,” said Michael, as he seated himself beside 
the fire. 

“ All right. I’ll go then,” said the Doctor 
genially, as he walked to the door and left the 
young man by himself. 

And Michael never ‘ left the room again until 
the ladies came back. 

The afternoon passed without incident, Michael 
still keeping his place in the corner, until five 
o’clock, when the Doctor and his wife were obliged 
to go away, rather reluctantly, as it seemed to 
Michael, to pay a promised call on the Vicar’s 
.wife. 

As soon as they were gone the young man ad- 
dressed his aunt, who had given him several hints 
that she found his presence oppressive. 

“ May I ask, Aunt,” he said, with a certain 


A Desperate Game H7 

gravity of manner which impressed her against 
her will, ‘‘ if you will look over the contents 
of your writing-table, and see if everything 
about it is exactly as you left it when you used it 
last ? 

The color came into the old lady's cheeks. 

“ That’s a very strange thing to ask,” she said, 
suspiciously. “ Why do you want me to do 
this ? ” 

‘‘ Because I found some one standing by it this 
afternoon in a manner that gave me a strong feel- 
ing that the table had been ransacked.” 

Miss Farebrother shrugged her shoulders 
angrily. 

“ Really,” she said, “ I have no patience with 
your behavior, Michael. You make all sorts of 
disturbances by night; you offend my friend and 
worry me ; and you would, if you could, make my 
life unbearable by setting me to suspect the motives 
of every one around me. Of course, I know to 
whom your words point, and I shall not insult 
the character of any of my friends by doing what 
you ask.” 

Michael said no more ; and when a lady called 
to see Miss Farebrother he took the opportunity 
of leaving the room. 

That his words had not been quite without 
effect, however, he discovered later, when, on go- 
ing up to bid his aunt good-night, she whispered 
to him, with triumph in her voice, drawing him 
aside when the rest had left the room : 

I did look at everything on and in my writ- 
ing-table, just to prove how ill-natured you are. 


a Desperate Game 

Nothing had been touched since I left it. I hope 
you are ashamed of having made me do such a 
thing.” 

Michael bowed, without answering. It was 
satisfactory, he thought, that he had even been 
able to get her to look. 

On the following day, which was Saturday, Dr. 
Skates went up to town by the first train, having 
received, so Mrs. Skates explained at breakfast, a 
letter which might necessitate his going back to 
America before long. 

Gaspard was inclined to rejoice over this news ; 
but Michael doubted it. 

“ I am inclined to think,” he said, ‘‘ that it's 
a red herring drawn across the scent. The Doctor 
has business in London, and it seems as well to 
take off our attention by raising hopes that he may 
go away altogether.” 

It was nearly luncheon time before Miss Fare- 
brother came down-stairs, and it was not until 
after that meal that she entered the drawing-room 
for the first time that dayj accompanied by Mrs. 
Skates and both her nephews. She had just re- 
ceived a note which she wanted to answer herself, 
and she got Gaspard to move her writing-table for 
her, and, sitting down, began to write. 

It had been a habit of hers during the last few 
days to ignore her former favorite, Michael, as 
much as possible, and now that the Doctor was 
away she got Gaspard to do her the little service 
for which she would have accepted Dr. Skates's 
help had he been present. 

“ What subscription did I send last time to this 


A Desperate Game 149 

‘ Guild ’ ? asked she, handing the printed list she 
had received to her elder nephew. 

Gaspard looked for her name and answered : 

“ Two guineas. Aunt.” 

‘‘Thank you,” said Miss Farebrother. And, 
opening one of the drawers of her table, she took 
out her cheque-book. 

The next moment she uttered an exclamation, 
and Michael’s sharp eyes detected the reason. 
There was no need for her to cry : 

“ A cheque has been taken out ! ” 

Then she looked up, met the eyes of her 
younger nephew, and began to tremble violently. 
Mrs. Skates, sitting by the fire, appeared to be 
deeply interested in something she was reading in 
a newspaper ; Gaspard hardly understood the 
situation. It was Michael and Miss Farebrother 
who read each the thoughts of the other. The 
old lady put her cheque-book away with a trem- 
bling hand, and saying faintly : “ I’ll — I’ll write it 
out presently,” turned abruptly away from the 
table. 

Michael did not attempt to press his advantage. 
He felt sure that the missing cheque had been 
torn out by Dr. Skates on the previous day, when 
he had found that worthy alone in the drawing- 
room, close by the writing table. And he felt 
equally sure that there would appear in his aunt’s 
bank-book, the next time she examined it, a large 
sum which she would not be able to account for. 
Comment at this stage was, therefore, unnec- 
essary. 

Mrs. Skates, as if she had seen nothing of all 


15° A Desperate Game 

this, now began her usual attentions to her hostess; 
and the two young men presently left the ladies 
together. 

Gaspard, when Michael had explained things to 
him, was inclined to look upon the exposure of 
Dr. Skates as a foregone conclusion. But Mi- 
chael was less hopeful. 

“ He’s been even with us so many times,” said 
he warningly, “ that I don’t feel at all sure he 
may not be even with us again.” 

It was late when the Doctor returned from town 
that day. Mrs. Skates met him at the station, 
and the two young men wondered with what 
countenance he would meet Miss Farebrother, 
when his wife had informed him of her discovery 
of the missing cheque. 

They were soon satisfied. The Doctor was in 
the highest spirits, and if Miss Farebrother had 
the least suspicion of his good faith, she concealed 
the fact remarkably well. Soon after his return 
to the Abbey, however, she had a long conversa- 
tion with him alone, arid after that she retired to 
her own room, without seeing anybody else that 
night. 

Gaspard and Michael wondered what that con- 
versation was about ; whether their aunt had asked 
the Doctor any awkward questions, and, if so, how 
he had met them. 

They had no means of finding out her disposi- 
tion on the following day, which was Sunday ; for 
Miss Farebrother made the excuse of indisposition 
to remain all day in her own room, where she re- 
ceived no one but Mrs. Skates ; and even that 


A Desperate Game 

lady was not allowed to remain with her long, nor 
to return to the rest of the household with a very 
happy demeanor. 

Gaspard and Michael guessed that she had 
found her hostess trying/’ and more and more 
they wondered what the doctor and Miss Fare- 
brother had said to each other the night before. 

The day passed heavily with them all, and 
Gaspard continually urged upon his brother that 
this must be their last day at the Abbey. Mi- 
chael put him off ; he was growing restless and ex- 
cited over the thought of meeting the ‘‘ little shep- 
herdess.” 

Miss Bell arrived early on Monday morning, 
before Miss Farebrother was up. She was shown 
into the morning-room, and Michael hastened 
into the room to bid her welcome. As he 
opened the door, however, he started with a 
sudden chill. Dr. Skates was sitting close beside 
the young girl, talking to her with fatherly kind- 
ness, and with an evident interest, which made 
Michael’s blood boil and his eyes flash. 

It was some seconds before he could trust him- 
self to speak. 


CHAPTER XIII 

The Dresden china shepherdess looked prettier 
than ever, Michael thought, as she looked up at 
his entrance, her fair skin slightly flushed, and her 
dark eyes bright with excitement. 


^5^ A Desperate Game 

It was evident to the younger man that the 
Doctor had been paying her some compliment, 
which had set her blushing. Michael had to in- 
troduce himself, and he was rather hurt to find 
that the pretty girl had forgotten him altogether. 
It was true that the glasses he now chose to wear 
had been in his pocket during the celebrated in- 
terview in the shop, and that on that occasion he 
had been wearing a hat, with a soft wide brim, 
which cast some shade over his face. Still, it 
seemed to him that her want of recollection showed 
some ingratitude on her part ; and the fact that 
he had warned Miss Burns to say nothing about 
his share in getting her this engagement did not 
prevent the unreasonable young man from feeling 
sore at heart. 

Doctor Skates, therefore, had the best of it, and 
contrived to monopolize the lady’s conversation 
until Jarman appeared and carried Miss Bell off* 
up-stairs. 

A room had been prepared for her in Miss 
Farebrother’s own quarter, on the opposite side 
of the corridor, and Jarman showed her into it, 
that she might take off her hat and jacket, telling 
her that she would return in a few moments to 
lead her to the old lady’s room. 

Miss Farebrother was in her boudoir, huddled 
up in a long, loose gown of pale blue silk, in 
which she looked like the witch of a fairy tale. 
She was quite kind, but there was in her manner 
a certain shade of irritability which puzzled and 
troubled the young girl. 

I hope you like your room, my dear,” she 


A Desperate Game ^53 

said, as she rubbed her little thin hands together 
before the fire. 

‘‘ It’s beautiful, thank you. Fm delighted with 

“ That’s right. That’s right. If there’s any- 
thing you would like — a screen, or an extra table 
— tell me, and I’ll see to it at once. I want you 
to be quite comfortable and happy here. By the 
by — ” The old lady looked at her quickly, and 
her expression altered for the worse : “ Have you 
seen anybody since you arrived ? ” 

The girl flushed a little, surprised, not only by 
the question, but by the sharpness with which it 
was put. 

‘‘ I’ve seen two gentlemen,” said she. ‘‘ A Dr. 
Skates, and another who said he was your nephew, 
I think.” 

The old lady frowned. 

‘‘ Oh, of course. With spectacles, and his hair 
plastered down ? ” 

« Yes.” 

‘‘ Well,” said Miss Farebrother, tartly, I par- 
ticularly wish you to have as little to say to my 
nephew Michael as possible. He and the Doctor 
are at daggers drawn.” The girl looked up with 
a flash of intelligence. At least, perhaps that’s 
hardly fair to the Doctor. But my nephew has 
taken a dislike to him, and spares no pains to hide 
the fact, and to make things as uncomfortable for 
him and for me as possible. The life we live 
here is wretched in consequence. He is my 
brother’s child, and I can’t send him away ; but 
I particularly wish you, as long as these discordant 


^54 A Desperate Game 

elements remain in my household, not to take 
sides with either the one or the other. Now will 
you find it hard, do you think, to follow my 
wishes in this respect ? ” 

“ Oh, no,’* said the girl, readily. Indeed, I 
should prefer to feel that Fm here for you only, 
and I don’t think I shall find the least difficulty 
in doing as you wish.” 

‘‘ There’s a dear, good girl,” said the old lady, 
patting her hand gently, while a look of evident 
relief came over her face. ‘VYou will be able to 
do a great deal for my happiness if you can keep 
your word. I have been a very miserable old 
woman lately, feeling that my efforts to treat 
everybody well have failed, that my motives have 
been misunderstood, and that every one who came 
near me had some interested feeling, and was 
fighting with me against some one else.” 

‘‘You shall never have that feeling with me, if 
I can help it,” said the girl gently. “ You don’t 
know how grateful I feel for your kindness, or 
how beautiful it is to be in a nice house like this 
again,” she added with ^ smile. 

The old lady shook her head. 

“ It’s too early to talk about gratitude,” she 
said gravely. “We must find out first whether 
you are likely to be happy with me.” 

Pretty Valetta Bell soon found that her promise 
to Miss Farebrother was more difficult to keep 
than she had expected. After spending the rest 
of the morning with the old lady, and having 
luncheon with her up-stairs, she was told, when 
Mrs. Skates came up, that she might have the 


A Desperate Game ^55 

afternoon to herself. The Doctor’s wife’s manner 
to her, though outwardly as sweet as usual, had 
an unmistakable sub-acidity which was noticed 
both by Valetta herself and by Miss Farebrother, 
who broke out impatiently : 

‘‘ Blanche, I’ll have no jealousy between you 
and Miss Bell. I’ve had quite enough to put 
up with from the other members of the house- 
hold ! I expect my own sex to stand by me.” 

“ So we will,” cried little Miss Bell with spon- 
taneous brightness and decision. 

“ By all means, dearest,” cooed Mrs. Skates ; 
but she managed to dart one last vinegary glance 
at Valetta as the girl left the room. 

The little companion went first to her own 
room, already beginning to feel that there would 
be difficulties in the way of living at peace with all 
men, and particularly with all women. She^ 
managed very neatly to ‘‘dodge” the Doctor when 
she presently went down-stairs ; but it was only 
to fall into the clutches of Michael, who, if the 
truth must be known, had been lying in wait for 
her all day. She did not know her way about 
very well yet, and as she was hesitating which way 
to turn Michael came suddenly upon her, and 
asked her whether he should show her over the 
house. 

“ Oh, I won’t trouble you to do that, thank 
you,” said poor Valetta, remembering Miss Fare- 
brother’s injunction, and speaking with a distant 
tone Michael had not heard in her voice before. 
“If you will kindly tell me where I can get a 
book.” 


156 A Desperate Game 

“ Well, a book — of a sort — you can get in 
the library,” said he, leading the way down one 
of those bewildering passages with which the big 
house was full. 

She felt bound to follow, debating within her- 
self how she could get rid of him civilly, for fear 
Miss Farebrother should hear of her being with 
the unfortunate nephew who was in disgrace. 
She felt sorry all the time that she must be prim 
and harsh, for his tone and manner were kind, 
and much more to her taste than the more effusive 
civility of the Doctor. 

Michael threw open the door of the library — a 
bare-looking apartment of state, with rows upon 
rows of well-bound books, in tall handsome cases, 
looking for all the world as if they had been glued 
in their places, and were not meant to be touched. 
There was a little fire burning in a big grate, and 
near it was the one shabby armchair the room 
contained, and a revolving bookcase, on the top 
of which was a pile of newspapers and periodicals. 

All the rest of the furniture was clean and 
smart and new-looking, and apparently as firmly 
glued in place as the books on the shelves. 

“ There, you can find plenty of books here,” 
said Michael, as he went up to the nearest book- 
case, opened it, and took down an armful of 
severorlooking biographies. “ What would you 
like ? Something improving, I hope ? ” 

The prim tone and manner which he had used 
that morning when in the presence of the Doctor 
he had now dropped although he still wore the 


157 


A Desperate Game 

disfiguring spectacles, and looked an odd figure in 
his long black coat. 

Miss Bell laughed a little, though she, on her 
side was trying hard to be very stiff and prim. 

“ I think I should like a novel best,” she said, 
rather shyly. 

Well, you shall sit down by the fire, and Til 
bring you some to choose from.” 

Oh, but ” 

She stopped, in evident distress. This was ex- 
actly what Miss Farebrother would not like her to 
do, and Valetta, who guessed that Mrs. Skates 
would be spying upon her movements, began to 
grow very red, and to look towards the door. 

Have you got to read to my aunt ? ” asked 
Michael, rather surprised. 

“No. She was kind enough to say I might 
do just as I liked this afternoon ” 

“ Then do like to see what I can find for you. 
You shan’t sit in that chair.” And with a vigor- 
ous push he sent the comfortable shabby armchair 
flying across the room. “ It’s the one that’s 
always used by that old beast. Skates.” 

Instantly Valetta drew herself up, and made an 
instinctive step towards the door. Michael was 
up in arms. With a quick movement he tore off 
his spectacles, and, holding them tightly in one 
hand, which he used to gesticulate violently as he 
spoke he asked abruptly : 

“ Have you let yourself be talked over by that 
slimy old rascal ? ” Have you ” 

“ Mr. Farebrother,” cried the girl, making a 
movement as if she would have put her hands to 


^5^ A Desperate Game 

her ears, ‘‘ I really can’t allow you to speak in that 
manner of a person who ” 

She hesitated. She was rather frightened, but 
was still trying hard to be prim. 

‘‘ Who what ? ” asked Michael, shortly. 

Well, who is a friend of Miss Farebrother’s, 
and who, besides, got me this engagement.” 

It was Michael’s turn to draw himself primly 
up. 

“ Oh, he told you that, did he ? ” 

“Yes. He . Really, Mr. Farebrother, 

if you want me to speak, you must listen quietly.” 

“ How did he tell you he got you the engage- 
ment ? ” asked Michael, who could scarcely con- 
trol himself, so angry was he with the artful 
Doctor. “ Did you know him before ? ” 

“ I’ve often seen him at Cliffgate,” answered 
Valetta, “but I’ve not known him to speak to. 
He says he found out that I might perhaps like 
an engagement of this kind, and that he suggested 
my name to Miss Burns.” 

Michael had to walk up and down the room 
before he could trust himself to speak. At last, 
planting himself deliberately before her, with his 
eyes aflame, he said, in a voice he could scarcely 
keep steady : Will you find out from Miss 
Burns yourself who it was that asked her to go 
to you ? ” 

Valetta began to look and to feel uncomfortable. 
Here was she already embroiling herself with the 
two persons in the household she was anxious to 
avoid. 

Oh, pray don’t speak of it,” said she, quickly. 


A Desperate Game ^59 

“ After all, what does it matter who it was ? It 
makes no difference. Perhaps I misunder- 
stood ” 

“If you really want to know who it was sug- 
gested your name to Miss Burns ” 

“ But I don t,” cried Valetta, quickly. 

There was a pause. Michael felt snubbed. 
He turned to the bookshelves, and began to 
fumble about among the volumes with shaking 
fingers. The girl stole towards the door. Before 
she could reach it, Michael stood between her and 
the handle, very gentle, very much subdued. 

“ Please don’t go till I have found you a book,” 
said he, pleadingly. “ Or I shall think I’ve 
offended you. I haven’t, have I ? ” 

He was so earnest, yet so discreet in his en- 
treaty, that Valetta in vain tried to steel herself 
to a refusal. After stammering awkwardly for a 

moment, she said softly : “Well ” 

The one word was enough. With a gentle 
laugh, he led her back to the fireplace, brought 
forward one of the stiff-looking red morocco arm- 
chairs, and made her a sign to be seated. With 
an uneasy feeling which showed itself in her pretty 
face, Valetta sat down, and Michael then brought 
about a dozen volumes and, going down on one 
knee, in such a fashion that he barricaded her in 
on the hearthrug, he proceeded to offer them to 
her one by one. 

Nervously anxious as she was to get through 
this ordeal, the young girl was touched by some- 
thing undefined in Michael’s manner, which ap- 
pealed to her heart. The poor boy was in dis- 


i6o 


A Desperate Game 

grace, and whether the fault were his or not, she 
felt that her sympathy went out to him rather 
than to the over-genial, oily Doctor with whom he 
was at war. 

“ You’re fond of books, aren’t you ? ” he 
asked at last, rather nervously, with a quick, shy 
look up in her face. 

Something like a flash of half-forgotten memory 
made Valetta look at him askance before she said : 

Why do you ask that ? How did you know ? ” 

“Well, it was among books that I first saw 
you,” said he, in a low voice. 

She looked him straight in the face, with rising 
color. 

“ When ? Where was it } ” she then asked, 
abruptly. “ I’ve had a sort of fancy I’d seen you 
before somewhere, or heard your voice. But I 
can’t remember where.” 

“ It was in a bookshop. I made a stupid mis- 
take ” began Michael, reddening a little in 

his turn. 

Then she remembered, and in spite of herself 
she joined with him in the quiet laughter the 
remembrance evoked. But to this merriment 
there suddenly succeeded a look of pain and em- 
barrassment which Michael could not fail to 
notice. 

“ I think,” she said, rather abruptly, taking up 
the first volume which came to hand, and rising 
from her chair at the same moment, “ I’ll take 
this one.” 

“ ‘ Rienzi ! ’ Why, you said you’d read it 
twice ! ” 


A Desperate Game 

“ Did I ? Oh, well then, I’ll take any one 
you like,” said Valetta, hastily. 

She had so suddenly altered her manner, and 
become extremely shy and reserved, that it was 
impossible to doubt that there was some reason 
for her strangely inconsistent behavior. Michael 
stood for a moment uncertain what course to pur- 
sue, then he barred her way to the door, and 
asked, earnestly : 

‘‘Won’t you tell me. Miss Bell, why you are 
so suddenly unkind ^ What have you been told 
about me ? ” 

Valetta clasped her hands, and grew red and 
white alternately. Then, with one look up in 
the frank, open face of the young man before her, 
she decided to speak out and to tell him the 
truth. 

“ I will tell you,” she said, in a low voice. “ It 
will be best. I’ve learned that there are dissen- 
sions in the house most unfortunate dissen- 
sions ” 

“ Who told you so ? Dr. Skates, I suppose ? ” 
“ No.” 

“ Then it must have been my aunt. Will you 
tell me what she said ? ” 

Valetta hesitated, and the tears came into her 
eyes. Michael’s tone grew at once passionately 
anxious, as he said, quickly : 

“ Never mind. Don’t tell me anything, 
if it causes you pain to speak. And I think 
I can guess what it was you heard : it was 
that I am an ungrateful, worthless scamp of a 
fellow ” 


11 


A Desperate Game 

‘‘ No, no. Oh, no, she didn’t say that ! ” 
broke in Valetta, quickly. 

But he went on, without heeding her ; 

Who has upset the peace of the whole house- 
hold, and was always making himself disagreeable, 
and insulting my aunt’s friends. Yes, that was it, 
I know.” And he thrust his hands into his 
pockets, and turned away with a momentary as- 
sumption of devil-may-care recklessness. Then 
he heard a stifled sob, and, turning again towards 
the girl, he saw such a look of tender distress on 
her pretty face that all his assumed nonchalance 
gave way at once to a much softer feeling. 
“ Never mind,” said he, in a low voice, ventur- 
ing to come a step nearer, and looking down 
earnestly into her face. ‘‘ It’s a most 'difficult 
position for you, I see. You want to keep out 
of all the little worries and quarrels ” 

“ Oh, it isn’t that. It’s not for myself, it’s for 
Miss Farebrother,” said Valetta, frankly. She 
is most kind, most just. And these things make 
her unhappy ; she is afraid everybody thinks she’s 
neglecting her duty, when really she’s doing what 
she can for the best all the time. And so I promised 
that I wouldn’t take sides, that I would keep out 
of everything if I could, and think only of her. 
Do you see ? What else could I do, what- 
ever ” Her voice sank a little “ whatever 

I might think.” 

do see, and I understand. You are quite 
right, quite right. If you will only keep to that 
course, and not care for anybody but my aunt and 
her interests, it will be the best thing that has 


A Desperate Game 163 

happened to this most unlucky household for 
many a day.” 

“ And you’ll understand, won’t you, that I don’t 
mean to be unkind, if if ” 

She hesitated. Plain-speaking was getting just 
a little difficult. 

“ If you don’t take much notice of me ? Oh, 
yes. I shall understand. And I’m going to 
make your task in that respect very easy for 
you,” said Michael, not intending to speak bit- 
terly, and unaware of the feeling that peeped out 
in his tones : “I’m going away. Indeed, I only 
waited ” 

Before he could finish his sentence, the soft- 
hearted girl had burst into tears. Michael was 
overwhelmed. 

“ Oh, don’t, don’t 1 You make me feel such a 
brute ! I assure you I didn’t mean that — that 
I’m going away because of your coming. On the 
contrary,” went on poor Michael, getting indis- 
creetly frank under the influence of the girl’s dis- 
tress, “ I shouldn’t have stayed here till to-day if 
I hadn’t been so anxious, so very anxious, to see 
you again.” 

In the midst of her tears, Valetta looked up in 
surprise. 

“ To see me ? ” she said. 

It was on Michael’s tongue to confess the truth 
that he had been longing eagerly for another 
sight of her, that she had made upon him an im- 
pression he could never forget ; but, with the 
self-control which is sometimes so unexpectedly 
shown by strongly impulsive natures, of whom 


1^4 A Desperate Game 

one would least expect it, he put a check upon 
himself, and, after a moment's pause, said very 
gently and gravely : 

‘‘ Yes. I just wanted to feel, before going away, 
that there was some one about my aunt whom 
I should feel sure of, somebody who would do 
what you will do, watch over her and do your 
best to keep her from harm.” 

Although she felt touched by this speech, there 
was something in it which caused a slight frown to 
cloud Valetta’s pretty face. For was he not evi- 
dently doing his best to poison her mind, as Miss 
Farebrother had foreseen, against his antagonist, 
the Doctor? 

So that it was with rather more coldness than 
before that she said : ‘‘You may be sure I will 
do my very best for her ; and so I should do 
even if she were not surrounded by friends whom 
she trusts.” 

It was a very neat reproof, and Michael smiled 
a little. 

“You like the Doctor and his wife ? ” he asked. 

Valetta hesitated, and reddened a little. 

“That has nothing to do with it,” she began, 
evasively. 

“ Oh, but I think it has — a great deal. If they 
inspired me with the confidence you evidently 
feel in them ” 

“ You are putting words into my mouth,” pro- 
tested Valetta. 

Michael faced her squarely. 

“ Do they inspire you with confidence ? ” he 
said. 


A Desperate Game 165 

She bit her lip, and looked down. 

“ You have no right ” she began. 

He took her up quickly. 

Of course I have not. I apologize. Well, 
you have been careful to let me understand that 
you don't trust me, and I admire your prudence. 
But I do beg you to be prudent enough not to 
trust the other side either.” 

Valetta was torn by her feelings, and upper- 
most at that moment came pity for the frank- 
faced young fellow before her, with his evident 
earnestness, his kindness, and something less defi- 
nite, which attracted her at least as much, though 
she did not guess that it was passionate admira- 
tion for herself. 

“ Listen,” she said, quickly : I ought not to 
speak out, perhaps, but I don’t like you to think 
I’m unfair. I don’t know that I do trust — the 
other persons. Certainly I am no partisan of 
theirs. I want to keep my promise, and not to 
take sides. At the same time, since I have got to 
live in the same house with them, I want to be on 
good terms with everybody, not only for my own 
sake, but for Miss Farebrother’s. And my diffi- 
culty is this, I tell you frankly : I want to like 
Dr. and Mrs. Skates, but I don’t like them at 
present, at least not very much. And I don’t 

want to like you, but I can’t help it at least, 

a little.” 

As she uttered these words quickly, with her 
eyes cast down, Michael made an instinctive step 
forward, delighted, carried away by her pretty 


1 66 A Desperate Game 

ingenuousness. But at once she drew back and 
put out her hand. 

“I’m going,” said she, “to fight against both 
feelings. I want to like you all at just the same 
cold level, and you must help me, please. Don’t 
get me into trouble with Miss Farebrother by let- 
ting everybody know, at least, by making every- 
body think — that I’m not beautifully impartial, 
beautifully indifferent.” 

What could any man say to such an appeal as 
this ? Michael felt that he could have knelt and 
kissed the hem of her garment. Instead, he mur- 
mured some incoherent and stupid commonplace, 
and let her go. 

When Gaspard presently seized him, and asked 
if he was not going to London that night, the 
younger shook him off roughly, and replied em- 
phatically that he was not. He was ready to go, 
yes, certainly, of course he was. But it was plainly 
their duty to make sure, before going, that the 
new element in the household would work har- 
moniously with the old. r 

Gaspard shrugged his shoulders with contempt. 

“ I quite understand,” said he drily. “ But I 
must just tell you this : Dresden shepherdess or 
no Dresden shepherdess, I go up to London to- 
morrow, whether you go with me or not.” 


A Desperate Game 167 


CHAPTER XIV 

Now there were two other points which Michael 
was anxious to have cleared up before he left the 
Abbey. One of these concerned the conversation 
which he knew Miss Farebrother to have had 
with Dr. Skates on the Saturday night, after the 
discovery that a cheque was missing from her 
cheque-book. That this talk had been a serious 
one he was convinced, and he fancied that her 
subsequent action, in shutting herself up in her 
own rooms, was a result of that interview. He 
was most anxious to know, therefore, what had 
passed between them and how the wily Doctor 
had succeeded in diverting suspicion from him- 
self. 

The second matter about which he was anxious 
was connected with the first. When would Miss 
Farebrother discover that an amount had been 
withdrawn from her banking account without her 
knowledge ? What action would she take when 
she found it out P 

He was soon satisfied on one at least of these 
points ; for that very afternoon his aunt sent for 
him ; and on going up to her boudoir, Michael 
found himself in the presence not only of her, but 
of one of the head clerks from the bank where she 
kept her principal account. 

‘‘ Good morning, Michael,” she said very coldly 


i68 


A Desperate Game 

to her nephew, as soon as he entered the room. 
‘‘ You know Mr. Young, from the bank, I be- 
lieve ? ” 

The two men bowed to each other, and Mr. 
Young, at a sign from the old lady, explained his 
errand. 

“ A cheque was presented at the bank on Satur- 
day, just before closing time,” said he, ‘‘ made out 
to a John Manners, and apparently signed by 
Miss Farebrother.” 

“ Now for it ! ” thought Michael, as he started 
and looked alert for a moment. 

Mr. Young went on: There was, at the 

moment, no suspicion that it was not all right ; 
but later it seems to have occurred to the cashier 
to doubt its genuineness, and I have been sent 
down to ask Miss Farebrother if it was in order.” 

Michael looked at once at his aunt. To his 
surprise, the old lady had her eyes fixed upon him 
with piercing intentness, as if she resented the 
warning he had given her about the missing 
cheque. 

“ I have not given Mr. Young any answer at 
present,” said Miss Farebrother icily. ‘‘ I have 
sent for you because you made a statement to me 
on Saturday, a statement which you may re- 
member.” 

“ Perfectly,” said Michael, more and more puz- 
zled by his aunt’s manner. “ I told you ” 

“Nevermind at present what you told me,” 
said his aunt, in the same tone. She was silent 
for a moment, and then she rose, and turning to 
the bank clerk said : “If you will excuse us a 


A Desperate Game 169 

moment, Mr. Young, I should like to put a ques- 
tion to my nephew.'' 

And she led the way into her dressing-room. 
Bewildered by her manner, Michael paused for a 
moment to say to the clerk : 

How much was the cheque for, and who pre- 
sented it ? " 

“ It was for six hundred pounds, and it was pre- 
sented by a respectable-looking, middle-aged man, 
who might have been the secretary of some chari- 
table society, such as those to which Miss Fare- 
brother has been such a large contributor lately." 

‘‘ Was it an open cheque ^ " asked Michael. 

Yes, it was that fact, and the largeness of the 
sum, that drew particular attention to the cheque, 
and made it seem desirable to verify it." 

Thank you," said Michael, as he followed his 
aunt into the adjoining room. 

Instead of the distress and confusion that he 
expected to see in her, the young man found his 
aunt in a perfectly calm and stolid mood, such as 
he never remembered to have seen her in before. 
She was sitting by her dressing-table, and as soon 
as he had shut the door, she said abruptly : 

Have you any further statement to make 
about this affair ? " 

“ Only this. Aunt, that I'm certain the cheque 
was taken on Friday by Dr. Skates, that he forged 
your signature to it, and that the business he had 
in town on Saturday was to employ some person 
in his power or in his confidence to present it at 
your bank, and to deliver the money to him," 
said Michael at once. 


^70 A Desperate Game 

She listened in dead silence, and then her face 
suddenly broke into a peculiar dry smile. 

“ Ah ! ” said she, I thought so. You have 
not the least compunction about bringing this 
deliberate accusation against another man, simply 
because you dislike him.” 

“ Not because I dislike him. Aunt, but be- 
cause I’ve proved him to be an artful and de- 
signing man, who is recklessly unscrupulous in his 
methods.” 

What methods ? ” 

‘‘ He has worked upon your feelings by means 
of tricks,” said Michael, grown rash in his an- 
ger. “ He has introduced a girl into your room at 
night, who has passed herself off upon you as a 
spirit ” 

“ What do you mean by that ? ” asked Miss 
Farebrother, rising from her chair and standing 
with one trembling hand resting upon her dress- 
ing-table. 

“ I mean that I caught the girl outside your 
room on Friday night, when you heard that dis- 
turbance, and that a piece of the green stuff she 
had wrapped round her was left in my hand when 
she got away. I have it locked up in my cabin- 
trunk up-stairs,” added Michael firmly. 

As he uttered these words, he had a fancy 
that he heard a sound in Miss Farebrother’s bed- 
room and he made a dash across the dressing- 
room to the door, threw it open, and saw the 
placid Mrs. Skates, not indeed close to the door 
by which he stood, but not too far off to have 
heard his words. 


A Desperate Game 171 

His aunt’s voice, grown very hard and cold, 
called him back. He saw that what he said had 
affected her, but she professed not to heed it. 

Nothing in the way of malice or ill-nature 
on your part would surprise me,” she said. 

‘‘ Did you know that Mrs. Skates was listen- 
ing in the next room. Aunt ? ” asked Michael, 
interrupting her. 

She may have been in the next room, but 
she certainly would not have condescended to 
listen to conversation not intended for her ears,” 
retorted Miss Farebrother. “ Those methods 
are left for people who bring direct accusations to 
hide their own misdeeds.” 

‘‘ Aunt, what do you mean ? Do you accuse 
me of ” 

“ I accuse nobody,” said Miss Farebrother, 
with a slight shrug of the shoulders, as she walked 
towards the door of her boudoir, ‘‘ until I have 
complete proof.” 

As she uttered the last word she re-entered the 
room where she had left the bank clerk. 

‘‘ This signature is mine, Mr. Young,” said 
she in a quiet, dry voice, as she handed him back 
the disputed cheque. 

The young man stared, then bowed his head. 
Michael was speechless with amazement, rage, and 
disgust. It was but too evident that, instead of 
accepting his suggestions, or even heeding them, 
his aunt had chosen to turn her suspicions upon 
him. Now Michael understood what had hap- 
pened on the interview of Saturday evening ; Dr. 
Skates had evidently seized the opportunity of 


172 


A Desperate Game 

awaking Miss Farebrother’s suspicions, and of 
fixing them upon his enemy. 

The look of malignant magnanimity which Miss 
Farebrother cast at her nephew as she acknowl- 
edged the forged signature as her own came with 
the force of a stunning blow upon him. He did 
not wait even for the departure of the bank clerk ; 
but, with a little hollow laugh, left the room. 

He saw how easy it had been for the artful 
Doctor to turn suspicion away from himself. 
Michael had indeed found Dr. Skates alone in 
the drawing-room on the eventful Friday ; but 
the Doctor had gone out of the room first, leav- 
ing Michael there alone in his turn. What could 
be easier than for him to trump up a story of 
Michael’s imaginary need of six hundred pounds, 
the very sum which he himself had withdrawn, by 
means of a forged cheque, on that very day ? 

Michael hastened with his story to his brother, 
who, instead of seeing in it another reason why 
they should stay on at the Abbey, and confound 
the Doctor, again urged on his brother the advisa- 
bility of their going away at once. 

He finally prevailed upon Michael to yield to 
his wishes, and the two packed their luggage im- 
mediately, and, having learned that Miss Fare- 
brother was now in the drawing-room with the 
others, went in, hat in hand, to bid her good-by. 

Where are you going ? ” asked their aunt, 
coldly, as if scarcely noting that they wore their 
overcoats, and carried their rugs and bags. 

‘‘We think. Aunt,” said Gaspar'd, gravely, 
though with a slightly tremulous voice, “ that, as 


173 


A Desperate Game 

our presence here has only been a source of trouble 
and annoyance to you and your friends, we had 
better leave you. We thank you very much for 
your kindness in letting us stay here, when it was 
evidently vexatious that we should come at all.” 

Now Michael noticed that these words affected 
both Dr. and Mrs. Skates very strongly; the 
lady turned quite pale, and even the Doctor be- 
gan to move restlessly, as if under the influence 
of some strong excitement. As for Valetta, she 
had to put her handkerchief furtively up to her 
eyes to prevent the tears from falling. 

‘‘ And as for me. Aunt, as you almost called 
me a thief this afternoon,” began Michael, in a 
ringing voice, full of suppressed anger, which sent 
a thrill through each of his hearers, “ no doubt 
you will feel considerably happier when I am 
safely off the premises. You, Dr. Skates,” he 
went on, turning passionately and haughtily to 
that worthy gentleman, ‘‘had better tell Johnson 
to count the spoons.” 

There was a moment’s dead silence. Then, 
without any warning but a little fluttering move- 
ment of her right hand. Miss Farebrother fainted 
away. 

There was a general confusion. Mrs. Skates 
and Valetta combined their forces against the 
young men, scolding them, urging them to behave 
sensibly and properly, and to take off their over- 
coats and be reasonable directly. And the end of 
it was that, seeing how very deeply affected Miss 
Farebrother was by their suggested departure, 
they had to give way. 


^74 A Desperate Game 

Feeling rather foolish, the two young men slunk 
off up-stairs to talk things over. 

‘‘ The Skateses were as anxious to keep us 
here as they could be/’ said Gaspard, bewildered. 
‘‘ How do you account for that ? ” 

Michael pondered. 

Don’t you think it may be,” said he, ‘‘ that 
for one thing my aunt would reproach herself for 
our going away and end by turning against them ? 
Or that, if anything were to happen to her when 
they were living here with her alone, the plea of 
undue influence could be set up more easily than 
if we were living here too ? ” 

Very likely,” said Gaspard, moodily. Then 
we’re in for another spell of this wretched life, are 
we ? ” 

‘‘ I’m afraid so,” said Michael. ‘‘ But listen, 
old chap. I’m not going to let this matter of the 
cheque rest. I’m going up to town to-morrow, 
and” — he whispered in his brother’s ear — I’m 
going to set a detective to work. If I’m not mis- 
taken, we shall find something out if we keep our 
heads. If we can bring a few more creditors down 
on him, we can perhaps convince even old Buckle 
that he is not the man of affluence he makes out. 
See ? ” 

Gaspard did see, but he was not hopeful. How- 
ever, he made no objection to his brother’s expedi- 
tion ; and on the following day Michael went up 
to Scotland Yard, made a statement, and asked 
that a detective might be sent down to St. Mary’s- 
on-Sea, to see whether he could identify Skates 
as the hero of any previous criminal record. He 


A Desperate Game ^75 

mentioned the name of Macdonald as one which 
Skates had apparently borne some years before, 
but no person of that name and of the appearance 
he described, was known at Scotland Yard. 

On the whole, Michael felt less hopeful when 
he left the police headquarters than he had done on 
entering them. He knew that there are a great 
many rogues in the world, sham philanthropists 
and the like, who lie and rob, and plunder the 
public with both hands, and are yet artful enough 
to keep outside the clutches of the law. It was 
true that this latest exploit of Skates' seemed to 
promise that he was more than a potential criminal ; 
but he was such a clever fellow, and he had got 
such a firm hold on Miss Farebrother’s confidence, 
that it was not possible to take a sanguine view of 
the chances of bringing him to book. 

Michael had given the fullest particulars he was 
able to the sergeant who was put in charge of the 
case, and was told that his instructions would be 
followed without delay. He was not, therefore, 
surprised when, a couple of days later, he saw* a 
man whose face he did not at first recognize carry- 
ing some wood towards the house from the plant- 
ation at the end of the garden. 

A second look, however, showed him that this 
was the detective in charge of the case ; the man 
saluted in the manner of an ordinary dependent, 
but gave no sign of recognition ; and Michael, 
satisfied, made no attempt to interrogate him. 

It was in the afternoon of a day on which Miss 
Farebrother had arranged to give a little entertain- 
ment to the young sons and daughters of her 


176 A Desperate Game 

friends. Dr. Skates, who had entered with great 
gusto into the preparations, had driven over to 
Cliffgate to hire a lantern for the inevitable dissolv- 
ing views, and he came through the gateway from 
the pony-carriage at that moment, looking the pic- 
ture of a jolly, jovial English country gentleman, 
with a parcel of slides under each arm. 

Michael, who was a little in the background, 
watched the face of the man carrying the wood at 
this first meeting with the suspected man. As the 
Doctor swung along the glass-covered passage at 
a great rate, the detective caught a full view of his 
face. Whether he forgot his professional caution 
in his surprise, or whether he felt no doubts about 
the expediency of making known his discovery, 
Michael did not know. But there escaped from 
his lips the one word : 

“ Anderson ! ” 

The Doctor started, turned a scared face for one 
look at the man who had uttered the name, and 
went quickly into the house. 


CHAPTER XV 

Here then was light at last ! Here was a 
chance of finding out all about the Skateses and 
their antecedents ! Michael felt, as, unseen by the 
Doctor, he noted the instantaneous expression of 
his face, the sudden pallor that spread over his 
fresh-colored cheeks, that the mystery would soon 
be a mystery no longer, that he should be mas- 


A Desperate Game i77 

ter, before long, of at least some of that clever 
gentleman's secrets. 

The young man was so intent upon watching 
Dr. Skates, of whom he never lost sight until the 
door of the house had closed behind him, that it 
was some moments before he turned to look for 
the detective, who was to supply him with the 
precious details he wanted. But the man had 
disappeared. 

Although it was never Michael's habit to enter 
the house by the servants' entrance, he was too 
anxious for the information in the detective's 
possession not to try to obtain an interview with 
him at once. Regardless of prudence, therefore, 
he went into the house by the side door, and 
found the detective, v/ho was dressed in a green 
serge apron, engaged in chopping up the under- 
wood under the direction of the cook, who was 
scolding him loudly for his slowness over the 
work. 

“ Got a new helper, eh ? " asked Michael, try- 
ing to speak carelessly, and devoutly hoping that 
the woman would go away and leave him with 
the man. 

But the cook still stood with her hands on her 
hips, and answered in a grumbling tone : — 

‘‘ Not much of a help, sir. He's so slow. 
When there's such a lot to do as there is on a 
day like this too." 

“Yes, I suppose you're all as busy as you can 
be in the kitchen," said Michael. 

But she did not take the hint. 

“ Indeed we are, sir," said she. “ It's as much 
12 


A Desperate Game 

as Fve been able to take a few minutes to get a 
cup of tea/’ 

And as she did not move, and Michael dared 
not draw suspicion upon himself and the detective 
by calling him away, he was obliged, while in- 
wardly fuming, to go away without the interview 
he so much desired. 

The detective, on his side, made no attempt to 
meet the young gentleman half way. After the 
first perfunctory salutation, made with his eyes 
down as if he had never seen Michael before, he 
went on stolidly with his work, and appeared not 
to notice any of the side-long looks which the 
young man cast upon him. This conduct, though 
satisfactory as regarded his prudence, was extremely 
tantalizing to poor Michael. 

The detective was the usual well set-up, broad- 
shouldered fellow, too robust a specimen of man- 
hood, indeed, to masquerade very well as one of 
the men who applied for odd jobs of the sort he 
had undertaken. Fortunately for him, the lazy 
and well-fed servants at the Abbey were not 
observant people. They had a standing order 
from their generous mistress to give chance em- 
ployment to anybody who chose to apply for it ; 
and Watkin, for that was his name, had found it 
easy enough to get taken on in the character he 
represented of a laborer out of work. 

As Michael reluctantly retired, after making 
some excuse to account for his presence there, he 
made up his mind to have the talk he wanted 
with the man before the evening was over. 

For the rest, he had nothing much to look 


A Desperate Game n9 

forward to in the evening’s entertainment. Hos- 
pitable as Miss Farebrother was, she was not very- 
happy in her notions of providing amusement for 
her guests on these occasions. In the first place, 
she chose hours which suited nobody, being rather 
late for the juvenile visitors, and very early for 
the others. After assembling at the chill hour of 
half-past five, and being provided with tea and 
cake, the guests were expected to entertain each 
other with games and dances until seven, when 
the inevitable magic lantern entertainment or con- 
juring performance was to bore them all to dis- 
traction. Then the relief of supper was to be 
followed by more games till nine, when the 
juveniles were expected to retire, and allow their 
elders by a few years to enjoy the next two hours 
in their own way. 

And this was a way which Michael, for one, 
would have found very pleasant if he had had any 
chance of dancing with pretty Valetta for a part- 
ner. But the young girl’s discretion, since that 
first most pleasant tete-a-tete in the library, had 
prevented his exchanging more than half a dozen 
formal words with her ; whilst it angered him greatly 
to see, on the other hand, that Dr. Skates, in spite 
of her retiring manner, managed to hold her in 
conversation by the half-hour together. 

The artful Doctor had contrived, too, to obtain 
the companion’s assistance in preparing the slides 
for the lantern, which he insisted on showing him- 
self. And Mrs. Skates had shown herself by no 
means pleased with this arrangement. 

When the guests began to arrive, it was the 


1^0 A Desperate Game 

Doctor and Mrs. Skates who received them in the 
big inner hall, where a fire, rather larger than was 
needed on a May evening, blazed in the wide 
hearth. Gaspard had refused to assist in the 
function, and Michael, who in other circumstances 
might have given useful help, was too much dis- 
gusted by the position taken up by the Skateses 
and occupied by his various anxieties to do more 
than scowl at the proceedings from a remote cor- 
ner. 

When the party from the Vicarage arrived, 
however, Gaspard, recognizing the one voice from 
the gallery where he was sulking, stole down and 
encountered Madeline, as she was following her 
younger brothers and sisters towards the drawing- 
room. 

Greetings between the two were rather shy, 
rather constrained. Then Madeline said : 

‘‘ Tm glad you haven't gone away yet, Mr. 
Farebrother." 

‘‘ It's Michael's fault," said Gaspard, leading 
her into the breakfast-room, where excited maid- 
servants were pouring out tea and handing cake 
and buns furiously. A certain confusion which 
reigned in this department was favorable to Gas- 
pard's object of separating Madeline from the rest. 
He shook up a cushion in the window-seat, be- 
hind a huge urn, and invited her to sit there. 
She hesitated. 

1 must look after the little ones," she said. 

I've got to see that Geoffrey doesn't eat pastry, 
and that Lilian " 

“ Leave 'em alone. Over-eating does children 


A Desperate Game i8i 

good once in a way,” said Gaspard entreatingly. 

You can save me from something much worse, 
really.” 

‘‘ What’s that ? ” said Madeline, who was look- 
ing sweeter than ever in a white Liberty silk frock, 
with her golden hair tied with a broad blue velvet 
ribbon, and a simple young girl’s fan in her hand. 

‘‘Cutting my throat, I think,” said Gaspard 
dismally, though he began rather to enjoy his 
despair when Madeline suffered herself to be per- 
suaded to sit in the cosy corner he had made for 
her. 

“ Oh, how wicked of you to talk like that ! 
And when the other day you were so full of brave 
resolutions for fighting the world and all that I ” 
said Madeline reproachfully. 

“ Well, if I could begin, I shouldn’t so much 
mind. But to have to drag on a wretched exist- 
ence here, as everybody seems to think it’s our 
duty to do, though they don’t seem to understand 
how precious uncomfortable it is ” 

“Yes, 1 know. Mother and father both say 
you ought to stay, and I think so too,” said she 
decidedly. “ You know I told you I thought it 
a shame to throw up the game, as it were, and to 
let these two horrid people turn you out.” 

“ It’s they who won’t let us go,” said Gaspard. 
“ They’re afraid that, if we did, they would be ac- 
cused of undue influence. Not that I should 
stay for their wishes. But my aunt fainted when 
she heard we were going, so what could we do ? ” 

“ She must care for you then, mustn’t she ? ” 


i 82 


A Desperate Game 

“ I don’t know. She doesn’t seem to. I fancy 
she only feels it’s her duty to have us near her.” 

Then she’s as fond of these Skateses as ever ? ” 

‘‘ Of the Doctor, yes. I don’t think she likes 
his wife so much as she does Miss Bell, her new 
companion. That’s a new trouble, for the Doctor 
pays Miss Bell a great deal of attention, which 
makes her uncomfortable, and Mrs. Skates jeal- 
ous.” 

“ Is he really a doctor ? ” 

“ I don’t know. He says he is not a doctor of 
medicine, but of science or laws or divinity or 
something. I shouldn’t like to swear to the 
genuineness of his degree. But he’s a very 
clever chap, knows a little about most things. I 
think’s he’s too clever for us ; but Michael per- 
sists in standing up to him, so that things rule 
lively here, I can tell you. Especially since the 
other day, when Michael accused the Doctor to 
his face of having called him a thief.’' 

‘‘ Did he, really ? ” . 

“ Yes. The ladies smoothed things over as 
well as they could, but relations are strained 
among us, 1 can tell you.” 

Madeline sighed. 

‘‘ It’s a great shame,” said she. “ But I’m glad 
you’re staying.” 

Gaspard looked down at her, and slid into the 
seat beside her. The maids were so busy run- 
ning about and waiting upon the hungry crowd of 
juveniles, that these two had no fear of being 
overheard. 


A Desperate Game 

Why are you glad ? ” said he in a low voice. 

Madeline played with her fan. 

“ 1 didn’t like you to be driven out by these two 
impostors,” said she. And — well, of course, it 

seems more natural to have you and Michael at the 
Abbey.” 

Gaspard had tried very hard not to do it, but 
the temptation was too strong. 

“ Supposing things had been all right, Madeline, 
would you ever — do you think you could ever — 
have cared for me ? ” 

“ I always liked you both,” said Madeline, 
just as fully conscious as he that they were sliding 
over the precipice. 

“ Oh, but you know what I mean.” 

“Oh, no; don’t, don’t. We needn’t talk 
about things that — that couldn’t happen.” 

“ Don’t you think we may as well, from a 
broad, general point of view, consider things that 
might have happened, if fate had been a little 
kinder ? ” 

Madeline caught her breath. 

“ What’s the use ? ” said she, in a frightened 
whisper. And she would have risen and run 
away, but that she heard her mother’s voice, and 
was afraid to show herself just then. She turned 
quickly to Gaspard. “ Oh, you don’t know what 
lectures I had to hear, and what promises I had 
to make, before I was even allowed to come here 
to-night.” 

Bitterly hurt, Gaspard would have jumped up 
and left her; but the girl, suddenly becoming 
aware of the intense pain her words had caused 


1^4 A Desperate Game 

him, put out her hand, timidly indeed, but with 
such a look of sad self-reproach in her eyes, that 
he had to linger. 

“ Oh, forgive me ! I didn’t mean ” 

‘‘ It’s hard, isn’t it ? ” said he bitterly, ‘‘ to 
know how willingly you’d have been allowed to 
listen if I had still been expected to have my aunt’s 
money P ” 

“ Oh, hush, you mustn’t say that ! ” 

But it’s the truth,” said Gaspard, hotly. 
“You know it as well as I do. Now I couldn’t 
be more of an ‘ ineligible,’ I believe the ladies’ 
word is, if I were a felon.” 

“ Oh, it isn’t fair to talk like that. You know 
that 1 ” Her voice trembled and broke. 

Gaspard sat down again. 

“ Would you have been kind, and sweet, if 
you hadn’t promised ? ” he whispered. 

A sob escaped her. She said nothing, but she 
bowed her head in assent. He bent his head 
lower, so that his whispered words could just reach 
her ear. 

“ Don’t say anything,” said he, “ I don’t want 
you to break your word. Supposing they hadn’t 
forbidden you, and I had asked you to wait, and 
to give me a chance, would you have waited ? ” 

Madeline suddenly raised her head. 

“ I’m not going to break my word to mother,” 
she said, clasping her hands tightly, and forcing 
herself to look away from him. “ But I will just 
tell you this : I won’t marry anybody, and I 
shan’t want to marry anybody. I shall just — just 
wait.” 


A Desperate Game 

Gaspard seized her hand, and kissed it under 
cover of the curtain. 

Heaven bless you ! You’re not like the 
rest. You’re not mercenary ” 

Madeline drew herself up. 

“ And mother’s not mercenary, either,” said 
she. “ Everything she said was quite right, and 
wise.” 

‘‘ What was it she said ^ ” 

The girl hesitated ; then she turned to look 
full at Gaspard. 

‘‘Yes, I will tell you,” said she, “and if you 
will listen carefully, I think you will admit she 
was quite right from her point of view. She said 
you were both dear boys, and, as she told me, 
she has proved her affection for you by writing 
to warn you about the Skateses. But she said 
you were placed in a miserable and demoralizing 
position by this uncertainty about your prospects, 
and that, until something was definitely settled, it 
would be better — better ” 

“ Better to treat me as an outcast altogether,” 
said Gaspard, bitterly. 

“ That’s not fair,” said Madeline, promptly. 

After a moment’s pause he admitted humbly 
that it wasn’t. And, forced to recognize the fact 
that the Vicar’s wife was indeed acting for the 
best for them both, and comforted by the girl’s 
tender assurances, he promised her most solemnly 
that he would respect her mother’s wishes, but 
told her at the same time that he would never, 
never care for any other girl. 

It was while they were still sitting in the win- 


t86 


A Desperate Game 

dow-seat, in the shelter of the thick curtains, that 
Madeline was startled by finding a face outside 
the window, peering in through the glass. 

She jumped up with a little cry, and Gaspard, 
on hearing what it was that had frightened her, 
opened the window quickly and looked out. 
There was no one to be seen, but a bush under 
the window was still shaking, betraying the fact 
that it had recently been disturbed. 

Gaspard was rather annoyed at the thought 
that there had been an unseen witness of the 
tender interview between himself and Madeline ; 
but the incident was forgotten by both quickly 
enough when, emerging one by one from the 
retirement of this window recess, they joined the 
rest of the guests in the drawing-room. 

The lynx-eyes of Mrs. Chalmers had detected 
her pretty daughter’s absence, and noted also 
that Gaspard had disappeared too. But Made- 
line took care to keep out of the way of her 
mother and of awkward explanations, for the time, 
at least. 

Dr. Skates, after being the life and soul of the 
party at the opening of the proceedings, and win- 
ning even the reluctant approval of the Vicar’s 
wife, for the cleverness he showed in amusing the 
children, had disappeared into the Great Hall, 
at the other end of the house, a magnificent 
apartment with an open-timbered roof, which was 
not often used, and where the magic-lantern en- 
tertainment was to be given. 

He was accompanied by Mrs. Skates, and by 
the unwilling Valetta, whom he had pressed into 


A Desperate Game 1^7 

the service, and who would have avoided her 
share in the entertainment if the Doctor had not 
appealed to Miss Farebrother in the matter. 

Although these three had begun the work of 
sorting the slides before the arrival of the guests, 
it was not finished yet, and the two ladies set to 
the task while the Doctor prepared the lantern. 

But a difficulty arose. There was a huge fire- 
place at each end of the hall, and fires had been 
lighted in both. The heat was already great, 
and the flames shot up so merrily that it was 
plain no darkness could be obtained for the show 
until something was done to abate the blaze, 
while the audience would certainly be roasted 
alive. 

“ Ring for somebody to put one of them out 
altogether, Blanche,” cried the Doctor, who was 
busy with his lantern. ‘‘ And, Miss Bell, will 
you be kind enough to open that window P ” 

The girl ran across the room, and did as she 
was requested. The window she chose was one 
which opened down to the ground, so that it was 
the work for a moment to unfasten the eatch, and 
to throw it wide. As she did so, she uttered an 
exclamation. 

“ What's the matter, eh ? ” said the Doctor, 
without looking round. 

“ Oh, it’s nothing. Only there was a man 
looking in through the crack between the blind 
and the edge of the frame.” 

Valetta was astonished by the terror which rang 
out in Mrs. Skates’s voice, as turning with her 
hand upon the bell, she cried — 


i88 


A Desperate Game 

‘‘ A man, do you say ? What man ? ” 

And then, before she could answer. Miss Bell 
noticed a strange thing. The Doctor just raised 
his head, and looked at his wife ; and the lady 
sank down, trembling and without a word, into 
the nearest chair. Nobody spoke for a moment. 
Then he said, in his usual tones — 

“ Ifit'soneof the servants, tell him to come in. 
He can help me with this.” 

“ He’s gone,” said Valetta. “ He went away 
the moment I opened the window.” 

That was the end of the incident. In another 
moment there were servants in the room, busily 
engaged in lowering the fires, and in cooling the 
room. And within another quarter of an hour 
the door was thrown open, and Miss Farebrother 
with her guests, old and young, were trooping to 
their seats. 

All were in a somewhat penitential frame of 
mind, for the merriment which the Doctor had 
known how to excite and sustain among the young 
folks while he remained in the drawing-room, had 
had time to evaporate since he left it. None of 
the party cared much for magic-lantern shows, 
having indeed been dosed to death with them by 
the parochial clergy, in their laudable efforts to 
amuse without exciting their parishioners. But, 
to everybody’s surprise, on this occasion the 
spirits of the audience rose as steadily as, during 
other shows of the kind, they had been in the 
habit of going down. 

Dr. Skates, genial and bright as he always was, 
had never been so absolutely brilliant as he was 


A Desperate Game ^^9 

now. The lecture he gave, as he exhibited such 
well-worn stories as “ Cinderella ” and ‘‘ Puss in 
Boots,'' convulsed both old and young with 
laughter. For he inserted into the series pictures 
which had no bearing on the story in hand ; and 
the ingenuity with which he dovetailed a view of 
Cairo and a scene from the African War into a 
well-worn fairy-tale was voted a triumph of 
humor. 

The Doctor had a telling, sonorous voice, and 
he was completely master of the art of making a 
very little joke go a very long way. The conse- 
quence was that when the audience filed out of 
the hall on the way to the library, which was to be 
used as a supper-room, they were all in high good 
humor. 

There remained in the great hall the Doctor, 
busy with his lantern ; Mrs. Skates, still in the 
same nervous state into which she had been 
thrown on hearing of the face outside the window ; 
and Valetta, who did not know whether her serv- 
ices were still necessary. 

The gas had been turned up, and the girl was 
able to see the faces of both husband and wife, 
and to note that the Doctor looked more than 
usually excited, which was a not unnatural conse- 
quence of his recent exertions. 

But what struck her more than the unusual 
animation of the Doctor's handsome face was the 
terrible anxiety which agitated the features of 
Mrs. Skates. Previous to the entertainment she 
had been petulant and disagreeable, having re- 
sented Valetta's being called in to help with the 


190 A Desperate Game 

slides. Now it was evident that she was no 
longer even conscious of the girl’s presence ; her 
still beautiful eyes were full of a most touching 
anxiety, and they never wandered from her hus- 
band’s face. 

‘‘ What — what are you going to do, Jamie ? ” 
asked she, in tremulous tones, as she crept to his 
side, and put her hand upon his, with an entreat- 
ing gesture. 

Valetta noticed this movement and was struck 
by the contrast between the white hand of Mrs. 
Skates, which was extraordinarily slender for a 
woman of her unwieldy size, and the broad and 
rather red palm of the tall Doctor. Turning 
quickly from the occupation on which he was en- 
gaged, Skates put his other hand quickly upon 
that of his wife, and said in a bright, laughing 
tone — 

‘‘ What am I going to do ? Why, wash my 
hands, to be sure, and get rid of some of the dust 
with which our Cliffgate friends have taken care 
to coat both the lantern and the slides. Aren’t 
you as black as a tinker. Miss Bell ? ” he went 
on, turning to the companion, whose presence he 
remembered, if his wife did not. 

“Yes, I think I am,” she answered, rather at 
random, for indeed she had not noticed that the 
slides were dirty. 

He went on, as he disengaged his hand from 
his wife’s, and gave her a gentle pat on the 
shoulder — “ Go, both of you, and get ready for 
supper as quickly as you can. These good peo- 
ple want no end of work to keep them going, and 


A Desperate Game ^ 9 ^ 

they won’t even have the spirit to pull a cracker, 
unless we go and show them the way.” 

The Doctor’s eyes were bright, and his manner 
was lively, indeed almost boisterous. He had 
exerted himself so violently in his efforts to amuse 
his audience, that Valetta noticed that his fore- 
head was wet and shining, and that the hand with 
which he passed his handkerchief over his face 
was shaking violently. The girl was rather 
touched, little as she liked Mrs. Skates, by the 
tender solicitude that lady showed for her hus- 
band. It was plain, Valetta thought, that she was 
afraid of the effect of such violent exertion upon 
a full-blooded man like the Doctor. He seemed 
rather amused at first, and then rather impatient, 
as his wife remained near him, clinging to his 
arm, looking up into his face. 

‘‘ There, there,” cried he at last, with some 
peremptoriness, ‘‘you really must go, both of 
you. Miss Farebrother expects us to help her, 
all of us.” 

Valetta took the hint at once and left the room ; 
but as she got outside, she caught the sound, 
though not the sense, of a pleading whisper 
uttered by Mrs. Skates to her husband, in a tone 
so strange that, in spite of herself, the girl stopped 
when she heard it. 

It seemed like a whisper of agony. 

Valetta thought for a moment that Mrs. Skates 
must be ill, and instinctively she was about to 
return to the great hall, when the voice of the 
Doctor, speaking, not in his usual genial tones, 


19^ A Desperate Game 

but with unmistakable harshness, checked her 
steps. 

“ Go at once — at once,'' he was saying very 
sharply, very shortly. 


CHAPTER XVI 

The back staircase of the house was at this end 
of it; and to save time Valetta, after taking a few 
steps in the direction of the hall, changed her 
mind and came back to go up by that way. 

She had reached the first bend, when, having 
left the door of the great hall open for Mrs. 
Skates to follow her, she distinctly heard that lady 
say, in a hushed voice, but very earnestly : 

‘‘ Oh, not that ! Don't take that ! " 

She looked down, to see whether Mrs. Skates 
and the Doctor were coming ; but not seeing or 
hearing anything more, she turned again, and ran 
up to her own room. Being, perhaps, rather ex- 
cited by the strange things she had just seen and 
heard, and being moreover in a great hurry to get 
down to the supper room to help with the little 
ones, poor Valetta experienced the bitter truth of 
the old saying More haste less speed." She 
shut her dress, which was of white French merino, 
into the door of her room, and tore off a great 
length of the black beaded passementerie which 
formed a panel up one side of it. 

Very angry with herself, she had to sit down 
and repair the damage as quickly as she could. 


A Desperate Game ^93 

but fast as her needle flew, it was a quarter of an 
hour before she was ready to go down-stairs again. 

To make up for lost time, she went down by 
the way she had come up ; for the back staircase 
was the nearest to the door of the library, where 
the guests were having supper. 

She was half-way down, when she heard a noise 
underneath, as of some one beating against the 
garden-door with his hands. Looking over the 
banisters into the unlighted corner below, where 
this entrance was, she was sure that there was 
some person outside trying to get in. 

She was hesitating as to whether she should go 
down herself to see who it was, when she saw 
Mrs. Skates come very quickly out of the great 
hall, and run round to the dark entrance at a 
speed surprising in one so stout as she was. 

The next moment Valetta heard her draw the 
bolt, and then she heard a strange sound which 
set her heart beating fast. 

It was as if Mrs. Skates had been on the point 
of uttering a loud cry, but had had her voice muf- 
fled by a hand put over her mouth. 

Valetta, much frightened, looked over the banis- 
ters again, but the garden-door was in a corner, 
and she could see nothing. But, thinking that 
something dreadful had happened, though she 
could not tell exactly what she feared, Valetta 
cried out : 

‘‘ Is that you, Mrs. Skates ? What's the 
matter ? " 

There was a sound as if of struggling, and she 
came down two or three stairs. Then she heard 


194 


A Desperate Game 

Mrs. Skates's voice, speaking unlike herself, in- 
deed, but with decision : 

‘‘ Matter ? Nothing, dear. Why ? ” 

‘‘ I thought I heard — some one with you ! " 
faltered Valetta, who was coming downstairs as 
she spoke. 

There was a hurried whispering, which Valetta 
only faintly heard, and then Mrs. Skates tried to 
laugh. 

‘‘ Oh, yes. The Doctor's here, that's all ! " 
Valetta was puzzled but reassured. She came 
to the last stair, and looking round into the dark- 
ened passage from the garden, could make out 
the figures of the Doctor and Mrs. Skates. But 
before she could speak again, the door of the 
library, which was some twenty feet away, sud- 
denly opened, and a noise of voices reached them, 
and made Mrs. Skates say : 

‘‘ Dear, dear, haven't you had any supper ? " 
She was not usually so considerate for Valetta, 
whom she openly disliked. But now she came 
a little way towards her, and expressed much con- 
cern when she heard of the accident that had 
caused the young girl to be so late. As she did 
so, Mts. Skates gradually edged Valetta back 
from the little passage in the direction of the 
library, talking all the time. But Valetta, who 
said little, noticed the extreme agitation of the 
lady's features and voice, and the trembling of 
her hands as she tried to persuade the girl to 
enter the library without further delay. 

The young companion’s curiosity, however, 
was now so strongly roused that she would not 


195 


A Desperate Game 

let herself be got rid of so quickly, but contrived 
to loiter just long enough to see who it was that 
emerged, a few seconds later, from the shadowy 
little passage, and ran rapidly up the back stair- 
case. 

It was only Dr. Skates, however, as his wife had 
said, and Valetta felt that what she had supposed 
to be a little mystery was no mystery after all, 
though she had no idea what the Doctor could 
have been doing out in the garden so late. 

She went into the library, and began at once to 
make herself as useful as she could by sitting 
between two small children who were quarrelling 
over a cracker they had pulled together. 

Michael looked at her with an anxious frown, 
wondering why she had been so long away. Miss 
Farebrother asked her where the Doctor and Mrs. 
Skates were. 

‘‘They — they were in the small hall just now,” 
answered Valetta, stammering and blushing over 
the words, with a consciousness that the little 
scene she had witnessed had seemed to her rather 
mysterious. “ At least Mrs. Skates was ; and 
the Doctor had just gone upstairs.” 

“ Dear me, they shouldn’t have troubled their 
heads about those slides ! They can all be packed 
up in the morning by the servants,” said Miss 
Farebrother rather petulantly. 

She was conscious that the evening, which had 
begun so well under the Doctor’s auspices, might 
end dismally after all if this important element of 
the general gaiety were missing much longer. 

“ Gaspard,” said she, turning to her elder 


^9^ A Desperate Game 

nephew, I wish you'd go and tell the Doctor 
to make haste, and Mrs. Skates too. Tell them 
not to worry about the lantern and things : they'll 
be all right." 

Shall I go and help ? " said the vicar's wife, 
half-rising from her seat. I know something 
about these things." 

But Miss Farebrother made a petulant move- 
ment to detain her. 

“ Oh, no," said she, ‘‘ there's no need for all 
this fuss at all. I can't think why they are do- 
ing this. I do hope there's been no accident 
with the lights or anything ! " 

Anxious faces turned towards her ; but before 
anybody could go in search of an explanation, the 
buoyant tones of the Doctor's voice were heard 
in the hall outside, and everybody looked relieved. 
The next moment the door burst open, and the 
Doctor himself, laughing as he came, entered the 
room like a ray of sunshine, followed by Gaspard, 
who had met him on the stairs. The Doctor 
had exchanged his evening clothes for his black 
frock coat, and he hastened to apologize to Miss 
Farebrother, who made room for him at the table 
near her. 

“ My dear Miss Farebrother," said he, ‘M'm 
famished ! Lecturing — especially learned lectur- 
ing of the sort I have been indulging in to-night, 
is hungry and still more thirsty work ! Let me 
drink your health in a glass of champagne." 

It occurred to Michael to think he looked and 
talked as if he had been already drinking healths, 
so loud of voice and vociferous was he, as he went 


197 


A Desperate Game 

on to explain how he had meant to startle them 
all by a display of fireworks in the garden, and 
how, by an incautious movement with a box of 
wax matches, he had set fire, not only to a mag- 
nificent Catherine wheel, but to his own clothes 
as well. Used to associate his every speech with 
laughter, the children set up a shout of delight at 
this relation ; and the Doctor entered into the fun 
•as heartily as any of them. 

Ah ! you may laugh ! ” cried he. But I 
tell you it was no laughing matter to have to re- 
turn to the house with only half one coat-tail in- 
stead of a complete pair of them ” — again the little 
ones shrieked with laughter — ‘‘ and with a beauti- 
ful pyrotechnic display going on really under my 
nose ! '' 

Valetta looked at him, wondering. Was this 
really the explanation of the little scene she had 
witnessed in the passage behind the back stair- 
case ^ She did not know why she doubted the 
story, but still she felt that she did doubt it. The 
next moment Miss Farebrother uttered an excla- 
, mation. 

‘^You've hurt your hand, too,” cried she, as 
she rose from her chair with anxiety. “ If if s a 
bad burn, you ought to have it seen to at once, 
or it may cause you dreadful pain before the 
nighfs over.” 

‘‘ Sit down, sit down, my dear lady, and don’t 
worry yourself about that,” said he. ‘‘ That’s 
not a burn, it’s only a cut. I cut myself with 
one of the slides that broke just as I was taking 
it out of the lantern at the very end of the show.” 


198 A Desperate Game 

Valetta instinctively looked down at the table- 
cloth, as if to hide the incredulity every one might 
have seen in her eyes. For she had been close to 
the Doctor to the end of the entertainment ; she 
remembered the incident of his putting one hand 
on his wife’s and she could have answered for it, 
on oath, that his hand had at that time received 
no hurt or cut of any kind. 

Why was he making up these strange stories ^ 
She felt hot, uncomfortable, perplexed. And to 
add to her confusion, just as she raised her eyes 
to steal a look at the Doctor, he looked at her, 
and it flashed through her mind that he knew he 
was convicting himself to her at least. 

Then another care crossed the hospitable mind 
of the hostess. 

But what have you done with Blanche ? ” said 
she. “ Isn’t the poor thing to have any supper, 
after helping you so bravely all the evening ? ” 

‘‘ Why, bless my soul, isn’t she here ? ” said 
the Doctor, looking round at the various tables, 
as if in search of his wife, though here again Valetta 
thought that he was acting, since it was not long 
ago that he had left Mrs. Skates in the passage, 
in no mood for the frivolities of supper. 

‘‘ No, she hasn’t been in at all. Do, Miss Bell, 
run upstairs, and see if the heat has given her a 
headache. I know some people can’t stand those 
lanterns,” said Miss Farebrother. 

Valetta rose at once, and, not heeding the ex- 
postulations of the Doctor, and his attempt to get 
to the door before her, ran out of the room and 
upstairs with the fleetness of a deer. Before she 


199 


A Desperate Game 

reached the door of Mrs. Skates’s room, however, 
she was chilled and alarmed to hear a deep moan, 
followed by a succession of violent sobs. She 
hesitated a few moments before knocking, but at 
last, when the sounds of grief had died away into 
silence, she ventured to tap on the door, and to 
say : 

Mrs. Skates, Miss Farebrother has sent me 
to ask if you have a headache. She is much 
troubled that you haven’t been down to supper.” 
Before she got any answer, Valetta heard the 
Doctor’s footsteps coming quickly along the cor- 
ridor, and, looking back, she was struck by the 
same thought that the two young men had had, 
that the usually wholly decorous Dr. Skates had 
had enough champagne to make his gait unsteady. 

She was sure of this the next minute, when the 
Doctor, hastening his pace, came up, and de- 
liberately put his arm round her waist. 

“ Come on an errand of kindness, little one ? ” 
said he, as he bent his head towards her face. 

There was a light in the corridor quite near 
them, and as he looked down smiling into her 
face, the Doctor saw such an expression of un- 
mitigated disgust and horror on the girl’s beauti- 
ful features, even before she had had time to attempt 
to get out of his way, that he at once withdrew 
his arm, and patted her on the shoulder, as he 
added, quickly : There’s a good, kind-hearted 

girl ! I’ll go in and bring her down.” 

And he opened the door and entered the room, 
while Valetta fled down-stairs as fast as her feet 
could carry her. She had to wait a few moments 


200 


A Desperate Game 

at the bottom of the stairs before she could trust 
herself to return to the supper-room without 
showing traces of the terrible amazement and 
vague dread which had seized her. 

Even then, however, there was one pair of 
eyes quick to see that something was amiss. 
When, in a very few minutes. Dr. Skates returned 
alone, saying that his wife would be down as 
quickly as she could, that she had a headache, 
but that she would not allow Miss Farebrother 
to go up to her, Michael looked from the Doctor 
to Valetta, and saw by the expression of the girfs 
eyes that she doubted his words. 

Michael took the opportunity of a certain move- 
ment which was now going on among the children, 
who were moving from their places to pull 
crackers, and to show off their treasures to their 
mothers and big sisters, to come behind Valetta’s 
chair. 

“ You have eaten nothing. Miss Bell,” he said. 

She started, and turning, let him see by the 
look in her eyes that she was suffering from some 
acute distress. What is troubling you ? ” 
Nothing,” said she, of course. 

Do you know what is the matter with Mrs. 
Skates ? ” was his next rather startling question. 

‘‘ No, oh no,” said Valetta, falteringly. 

“ Do you know where she is ? ” 

‘‘ Oh, yes, she’s in her room. At least she was 
just now — crying.” 

Michael drew himself up. He had always had 
more indulgence for Mrs. Skates than for her 
husband ; besides, there was a possibility, he 


20 1 


A Desperate Game 

thought, that if there had been a quarrel between 
husband and wife, she might, in her excitement' 
or resentment, let something leak out which it 
might be useful to know. So he said : 

“ ril take her a sandwich and a glass of wine.” 

“ I don’t suppose she’ll see you,” warned Va- 
letta. 

“Well, I’ll try.” 

So he slipped, unnoticed, out of the room, and 
went upstairs with these refreshments, and steal- 
ing very softly along the corridor, dealt on the 
door that particular little tap-tap, which he had 
often heard Dr. Skates give at the door of his 
wife’s room. 

“ Come in,” said a muffled voice. 

Michael hesitated a moment. Then, nerving 
himself with the remembrance that all is fair in 
love and war, he opened the door. But he did 
not go in ; he started back with so much amaze- 
ment that the wine was spilt from the glass in his 
hand. 

Kneeling in a heap by the bedside, her face 
swollen with tears, her dark hair streaming round 
her, was not Mrs. Skates, plump, placid, stolid, 
but — a slender girl ; the girl, he could not doubt, 
whom he had caught and who had escaped him 
on that eventful night when he had watched, not 
in vain, in his aunt’s workroom. 


202 


A Desperate Game 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Michael had scarcely time to utter an exclama- 
tion when the girl sprang up, flew to the door, 
and turned the key in the lock. Rapid as were 
her movements, however, and artfully as she con- 
trived, by shaking her long black hair, to make 
it half-cover her face as she ran, Michael felt sure 
that he should have no difficulty in identifying 
her if he saw her again. Dressed as she was, in 
some sort of loose garment, whether dressing- 
gown or tea-gown he had not time to make out, 
it was easy to see that the girl was tall and slender, 
that her hair was dark and unusually long, while 
there was a striking grace about her movements, 
rapid as they were, such as distinguished her from 
the ordinary run of women. 

As for her face, he could scarcely say that he 
had seen it, certainly not that he could identify her 
by features alone. But of one thing he felt abso- 
lutely certain, and that was that this woman was 
the “spirit” which Gaspard had seen, and the 
midnight visitor to Miss Farebrother’s room 
whom he himself had caught. 

After remaining in the corridor for a few min- 
utes, staring at the locked door, and wondering 
whether the girl was alone or whether Mrs. Skates 
was shut in with her, Michael went downstairs, 
where he found that supper was over, and that 


203 


A Desperate Game 

the guests were returning to the drawing-room for 
more dancing. 

It was at this period of the evening that the 
children were supposed to retire in favor of their 
elders ; but it happened, as usual, that many of 
them begged and obtained permission to stay on, 
so that the dance that followed was still in the 
nature of a mixed entertainment, during which 
you could vary the monotony of waltzing by 
tumbling over aspiring but immature performers. 

Michael, after a look round, found Valetta still 
in the supper-room, where she had been asked by 
Miss Farebrother to remain, and to look after 
Mrs. Skates. The girl jumped up quickly when 
Michael came in, and the color left her face as her 
eyes met his. 

“ What — what have you found out ? ” asked 
she quickly, in a whisper. 

He stared at her as he put the plate and glass 
he was carrying down on the table. 

Found out !” echoed he in a low voice, for 
the servants were still busy at some of the tables. 
“ What should I find out.? What do you 
know ? '' 

Valetta hesitated before answering. In spite 
of her valiant efforts to keep her word to Miss 
Farebrother, and to maintain absolute impartial- 
ity towards those two contending parties of which 
the household consisted, she knew very well that 
she was biassed, and this knowledge made her all 
the more cautious, all the more reticent. So that, 
although she was quite conscious that there was 
some little mystery about the movements of the 


^04 A Desperate Game 

Skateses on that evening, she did not wish to 
make any avowal until it was absolutely forced 
from her. 

So she evaded his question, and looked down, 
biting her lip with vexation at the indiscreet ques- 
tion she had herself uttered. 

I thought you looked — looked scared, Mr. 
Michael,” she said, resuming her seat, and trying 
to speak in an utterly indifferent tone. 

And you were not surprised, I think,” said 
Michael quickly, as he took the next chair to 
hers and looked searchingly into her face. “ Come 
now, youVe seen something or heard something 
to-night that has startled you and made you sus- 
picious of these people. It’s of no use to deny 
it ; I’ve watched your face.” 

‘‘ I’ve heard something that surprised me a 
little, but I’m not so suspicious as you are.” 

“ Will you let me tell you what has made me 
suspicious ? ” asked he, flushing a little, and 
nettled at her tone. 

She hesitated, 

“ I think I’d rather not,” she began. 

Michael stood up, offended, and uttered a 
short laugh. The servants had by this time left 
the room, and he could speak more freely. 

‘‘ I admire your prudence,” said he. Certainly 
you are wise to disregard my aunt’s injunction, 
and to take sides — with the winning party.” 

Then, to his astonishment, the quiet girl turned 
upon him with fire. 

“ What do you mean ? ” she asked quite fiercely. 

I mean that these Skateses have formed a plot 


A Desperate Game 205 

together with another person to ruin my brother 
and me, and that you are clever enough to see 
that they are succeeding.*’ 

“Are they?” said Valetta quickly. “Now, 
from what I have seen to-night 1 should say that it 
is you who, not satisfied with what you can find 
out yourself about these people, have got some- 
body to watch them, and are therefore ahead of 
them in the game.” 

Michael was astonished. 

“To watch them ! ” said he. 

“ I can’t be sure it was you who had them 
watched, of course,” admitted Valetta, though she 
saw by the surprised and guilty look on his face 
that her guess had been a good one. “ But there 
was a man watching them through the windows of 
the great hall to-night.” 

“ Well, there may have been,” said Michael. 
“ But it would take a lot of watching to bring 
such artful customers as the Doctor to book,” 
he added gloomily. 

Valetta laughed a little. 

“ I must be going,” she said at last, after a 
silence. 

“ Where ? ” asked Michael. 

“To see if Mrs. Skates is coming downstairs 
again to-night. She would not speak to you, I 
see.^’ And she glanced at the sandwich he had 
brought back and at the untasted wine. 

“No,” said Michael angrily, “I did not see 
her. But I saw a woman who is a fellow-con- 
spirator of these two, and whose presence on the 
premises means that there will be an attempt 


q.o6 


A Desperate Game 

made to-night to play upon my aunt’s feelings by 
means of a trick.” 

And, as Valetta could not conceal the interest 
and curiosity she felt at these words, he persuaded 
her to sit down again, and to listen to his ac- 
count of the vision ” Gaspard had seen, of his 
own capture and loss of the ‘‘spirit,” and finally 
of his coming face to face that evening with the 
mysterious long-haired girl. 

“ Who do you think she can be ? ” asked 
Valetta, looking at him with wide eyes full of 
affright. 

“ Some relation of theirs, I think. How they 
manage to smuggle her in and out of the house I 
don’t know.” 

But here Valetta was struck by a bright idea. 

“ I think I can guess,” said she. “ There was 
some sort of mystery going on at the garden en- 
trance by the back staircase to-night. I saw Mrs. 
Skates there, and the Doctor, and I wondered why 
she was so anxious to get rid of me. I suppose 
they had this girl there with them, and they had 
just let her in.” 

Michael listened thoughtfully, and decided to 
see the detective in the morning, and to ask 
whether he had seen any woman approaching the 
house. The more Valetta told him about that 
mysterious incident at the backdoor, the more 
probable did it seem that the girl was admitted by 
that way, and that the evident alarm of Mrs. 
Skates, described by Valetta, had been caused by 
the neighborhood of the detective. Things prom- 
ised on the whole to clear up a little, he 


A Desperate Game . ^^7 

thought. And, oh, joy of joys ! Valetta no 
longer made any attempt to conceal the fact that 
her sympathies were all on the side of Miss Fare- 
brother’s nephews, and against the Doctor and 
his wife and their fellow-conspirator, the girl with 
the long dark hair. 

‘‘ I wonder ” began she. And then she 

stopped. 

‘‘ What ? ” 

‘‘ Whether I could find anything out. It isn’t 
a very nice thing to play detective, but I really 
feel afraid of these people, and I would do 
anything, anything to get them out of the 
house.” 

Why, what do you propose to do ? ” asked 
Michael, leaning on his elbow, and looking up 
confidentially into her pretty face. 

They were still sitting at the table, but Valetta 
had clasped her hands, and was turning to look at 
the fire, thinking deeply before she spoke again. 
Both were wearing the air of being deeply in- 
terested, and were indeed so much absorbed, 
either in each other or in the subject in hand, 
that neither heard the door open, nor saw the 
angry face of Miss Farebrother in the doorway. 

It was not until a sharply uttered Miss Bell ! ” 
struck suddenly upon their ears that they both 
jumped up with a most guilty start, and stood, 
shamefaced, and at first speechless, before the of- 
fended old lady. 

‘‘Y — yes. Miss Farebrother,” stammered Va- 
letta at last. 

Miss Farebrother waved her hand toward the 


2o8 A Desperate Game 

door, looking at her nephew with a frown of ex- 
ceeding displeasure upon her face ; Michael began 
to move slowly towards her, but she, with an- 
other and still angrier gesture, forbade him to ap- 
proach her. 

“ I shall be glad,” said she, looking not at his 
face but at the floor, ‘‘ if you will join my guests 
— my other guests — in the drawing-room. I have 
something to say to Miss Bell.” 

‘‘ Very well. Aunt.” 

Miss Farebrother did not lose any time. The 
moment her nephew had left the room she turned 
sharply to her unfortunate companion. 

‘‘ I see. Miss Bell,” said she icily, “ how much 
faith there is to be placed in your promises, your 
assurances. You told me you would not take 
sides in the unhappy dissensions in this house, and 
yet I find you undeniably on the most confiden- 
tial terms with my nephew Michael, the cause of 
all my worries.” 

‘‘I felt sorry for him. Miss Farebrother,” said 
Valetta, firmly but modestly, clasping her hands 
in front of her and speaking very gently, and so 
I listened to what he had to say.” 

“ Well, I will tell you this ; if he was making 
love to you ” 

He was not,” interrupted the girl proudly. 

‘‘ So much the better,” retorted the old lady. 
“For if he had been so foolish, and if you had 
been unwise enough to encourage him, I should 
simply have cut him oflF from all participation in 
the benefits he may hope to derive from his posi- 
tion as my nephew.” 


A Desperate Game ^09 

‘‘ I think you are most unjust, unfair ! ” cried 
Valetta with spirit. 

‘‘ Not at all,’' replied Miss Farebrother. For 
you had both been warned ; he not to promote 
further disagreements in my household, and you 
not to hold more intercourse with my nephews 
than was necessary.” 

“ I beg your pardon. Miss Farebrother, but 
that was not what you told me,” cried Valetta, 
who was much too proud to allow herself to be 
reproached without defending herself. ‘‘ What 
you told me was that I was not to take sides. 
But as you even encouraged me to be civil to Dr. 
and Mrs. Skates, and made me help them this 
evening, I was bound in order not to take sides, 
to be civil to your nephew too.” 

Now, Miss Farebrother was not entirely with- 
out a sense of humor, and this apt reply mollified 
her a little. It was in a slightly less acid tone 
that she said, ‘‘ You have a sharp tongue. But 
it is a dangerous gift. May I trouble you to go 
again to Mrs. Skates ? Tell her I am worried and 
distressed that she had not come downstairs 
again.” 

‘‘ Yes, Miss Farebrother.” 

Valetta left the room, and ran lightly upstairs. 
Her heart was beating very fast, for she meant to 
use eyes as sharp as that tongue against which 
she had just been warned. When, therefore, she 
was admitted into Mrs. Skates’s room, which was 
not until she had been kept outside some minutes, 
and until she had warned the lady that Miss Fare- 
brother would come herself if she were not ad- 

14 


210 


A Desperate Game 

mitted, it was with the very steady determination 
not to leave the apartment without making some 
discoveries. 

She found Mrs. Skates lying on a sofa at the 
foot of the bed, with the gas turned low, and a 
strong smell of eau-de-cologne about. 

It’s very kind of Miss Farebrother and of 
everybody to send and come up so often,” said 
Mrs. Skates, in a tone of decided irritability, “ but 
it would be a still greater kindness if they would 
leave me alone.” 

‘‘Was it the lantern that made your head ache 
so badly ? ” asked Valetta in the softest of voices, 
as, taking advantage of the fact that Mrs. Skates 
was pressing her handkerchief to her eyes, she ex- 
amined the room as well as she could, peering be- 
hind the curtains and under the bed with deft and 
rapid movements. 

Still with her handkerchief pressed to her fore- 
head Mrs. Skates answered, “ Yes ; it always 
affects me like that. But 1 shall be all right 
presently, if I can only be left by myself a little. 
I don’t want any supper. Pray tell Miss Fare- 
brother not to come.” 

“ Oh, I don’t think she will, if I can assure her 
you are comfortable, and only want rest,” said 
Valetta, who was still looking carefully into the 
corners of the room. 

There was no dressing-room attached to this 
apartment, and only the one door. But there 
was a cupboard by the fireplace, and a hanging 
wardrobe, and Valetta had made up her mind not 
to leave the room until she had found out whether 


21 1 


A Desperate Game 

the girl with the long dark hair were concealed 
in either of these hiding-places. 

You don’t look very comfortable, you know,” 
she said at last, when she had satisfied herself that 
those two were the only possible places where a 
person could hide. ‘'Won’t you let me cover 
you with something ? It’s getting chilly, and you 
haven’t got much of a fire. ” 

As she spoke, she made a step towards the 
wardrobe ; but Mrs. Skates said quickly, “ Oh, 
no, no. I’m quite warm enough, thank you. 
Don’t ” 

But Valetta, more absolutely sure than ever 
that there was something to be concealed, ran 
lightly across the room, and opened the door of 
the wardrobe. To her disappointment, there 
was nothing there but Mrs. Skates’s dresses, and 
she was a little surprised to see that that lady was 
sitting up and looking at her movements with 
apparent anxiety. 

“ Is there anything here that you would like 
me to throw over you ^ ” asked the girl, acting 
her part very well, so that Mrs. Skates was de- 
ceived into thinking she had no suspicions as to 
the contents of the wardrobe. 

“ No, nothing, nothing, thank you. All I 
want is a little rest.” 

Valetta, however, had no sooner closed the 
door of the wardrobe than she ran across to the 
cupboard ; Mrs. Skates still sitting up to watch 
her. 

“ Perhaps I can find something here,” she 
said. 


212 


A Desperate Game 

To which Mrs. Skates rather tartly replied — 

‘‘ Really, Miss Bell, I wish you would leave 
my things alone.” 

Valetta, however, did not desist from her 
labors until she had satisfied herself, to her be- 
wilderment and disappointment, that there was 
no one but themselves in the room. Then she 
went up to the sofa, and Mrs. Skates lay down 
again with a sigh. 

“ Now, isn't there something you would like 
me to fetch for you ^ ” asked Valetta, suddenly 
conscious that she was not showing much sym- 
pathy for the self-styled invalid. “ A cup of tea ? 
Or anything ? ” 

She bent over the sofa, and met Mrs. Skates’s 
eyes looking full into hers, with an expression 
which made her aware that the Doctor’s wife was 
conscious of the extent of her solicitude. 

“No,” said Mrs. Skates, very shortly. “I 
only wish you would go away.” 

Valetta said nothing to this. Perhaps she felt 
that acting was by this time thrown away. She 
returned the look the elder lady gave her by one 
quite as direct, quite as steady. It was Mrs. 
Skates whose eyes fell first. Turning her head 
uneasily on the cushion, she said in a peevish 
voice : 

“ I’m very much obliged to you for your kind- 
ness, Miss Bell, but I’m afraid you don’t under- 
stand the feelings of a person with a bad head- 
ache.” 

Then Valetta withdrew from the sofa, with a 
curious expression on her face, an expression 


A Desperate Game 213 

which made Mrs. Skates anxious and uneasy 
again. 

‘‘ Oh, I’m sorry if I’ve disturbed you,” said 
the companion, as she retreated towards the door 
so quickly that the other lady, with a fresh access 
of curiosity, sat up once more. 

“ I — I didn’t mean that,” said she, half apolo- 
getically, as she scanned the face of her visitor 
with much intentness. Where — where are you 
going.?” 

^‘To Miss Farebrother, to tell her not to come 
up,” answered Valetta. 

Mrs. Skates still stared at her suspiciously. 

“ And after that to flirt with my husband, I 
suppose ? ” she burst out, with sudden bitterness. 

Valetta drew herself up. 

‘‘ If you really think there is any danger of 
that,” she said quietly, you can easily prevent 
it by coming downstairs yourself to keep watch 
over his movements.” 

For one moment the face of the elder lady was 
convulsed with a strange fear ; the next, she lay 
quietly down again with a frightened look at 
Valetta, who, without any further delay, went out 
of the room and shut the door softly after her. 

She had not gone many steps before she heard 
the key again turned in the lock of Mrs. Skates’s 
door. 

There was nobody Valetta was now more anx- 
ious to avoid than the unfortunate Michael, for 
she knew that Miss Farebrother’s threat had been 
uttered in all sincerity, and she did not want to 
bring him into further disgrace; but with the 


A Desperate Game 

headstrong rashness of youth Michael went out 
of his way to expose himself to danger, and to 
render the girl's prudence unavailing. 

Before she had got to the bottom of the stairs 
on her way to the drawing-room Miss Fare- 
brother's younger nephew suddenly appeared by 
her side, springing from she knew not where. 

Well," said he, ‘‘what did my aunt say to 
you ? " 

“She said," answered Valetta demurely, “that 
she would punish you if you talked to me." 

“ Well, I don't care," burst out Michael. 

Valetta cut him short : 

“ But I do ! " 

“ You won't let me speak to you ^ " 

“ Not more than I can help. It would be folly 
in us both. Because if we disregard her wishes 
Miss Farebrother will send me away, and I don't 
want to go away." 

“ I'm glad of that, at any rate." 

“ Because I think I can be of some use here," 
went on Valetta significantly. 

“ What ! " cried Michael, “ have you found out 
anything ? " 

“I think so," said Valetta, with her finger on 
her lip. 

“You'll tell me what it is ? " 

She shook her head. 

“ Just tell me this. Have you found out any- 
thing about the girl with the dark hair } " 

Valetta hesitated. 

“ Yes," said she, at last. 

“ Did you catch a glimpse of her ? " 


215 


A Desperate Game 

‘‘ I think so.” 

“ Do you know how she gets in and out of the 
house ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

And won’t you tell me all about it ? ” 

‘‘ No, not yet.” 

With another, and more decided shake of the 
head, Valetta ran away, just in time to avoid having 
this colloquy interrupted by Dr. Skates, who was 
coming out of the drawing-room as she reached 
the bottom stair. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Doctor hastened his steps on seeing 
Valetta, and she, on her side, after a moment’s 
apparent hesitation, deliberately waited to meet 
him. He passed his hand over his forehead, 
pushing back his long gray hair, and heaved a 
great sigh. 

‘‘ Oh, these good folks ! ” said he, good-hu- 
moredly, but with some appearance of fatigue, 
‘‘ what a lot of work it does take to keep them 
amused ! I’ve just set them going at a barn 
dance, and even had a turn at it myself. Come, 
you ought to be dancing, too ! ” 

“Miss Farebrother sent me upstairs to see 
Mrs. Skates,” said Valetta. 

A quick look of inquiry appeared in the Doc- 
tor’s eyes, and there was a moment’s pause before 
he said ; 


2i6 


A Desperate Game 

And how did you find her ? Did she let you 
in ? She wouldn't see me just now. She was 
just a wee bit cross, and inclined to be disagree- 
able.” 

‘‘'Well, she has a headache,” said Valetta. 
“ That does make people cross, doesn’t it ? ” 

“ Some people,” answered the Doctor, smiling. 
“ Now, I don’t think even a bad headache would 
ruffle your temper. You always seem good- 
humored and bright ! ” 

“ One has to control one’s feelings when one is 
in such a position as mine,” said the girl. 

“ And do you often feel very cross and disagree- 
able, while you are smiling at us, and doing your 
best to be obliging and kind? ” asked the Doctor, 
in much amusement. 

“Well, perhaps I do, but I’m not going to 
confess too much,” said Valetta. 

Dr. Skates looked at her with a shrewd ex- 
pression of admiration, not unmingled with 
surprise. 

“You’re an odd little girl,” said he at last. 
“ You don’t mind my saying that, do you ? ” 

“Not a bit,” said Valetta, secretly wondering 
at the change which had come over his manner 
in the course of the last half hour. 

All trace of the over-excitement which had 
filled her with misgivings, of the over-familiarity 
which had alarmed her when she met him in the 
corridor, had now disappeared. He was genial, 
charming, in a word he was himself again. When 
he spoke it was with a manner grown suddenly a 
little more serious. 


217 


A Desperate Game 

I have to thank you very heartily, Miss 
Bell,” said he, “ for your kind help with the 
lantern this evening. And I must apologize for 
my wife’s fretfulness. She’s a dear, good soul, 
but just a little apt to be trying sometimes, I 
know.” 

In his tone there was a slight shade of gentle 
melancholy, as if he had suffered a good deal from 
that fretfuiness in time past. 

Well, you are very patient,” said Valetta. 

The Doctor sighed. 

“It has always been a firm conviction of mine, 
and one which I have sought to carry into practice, 
that a man should stand by his wife through thick 
and thin, no matter what he may have to suffer at 
her hands,” he said gravely. “ It’s not fair for a 
man to marry a girl when she is young and beau- 
tiful, and then to neglect her when she is old, 
even if she makes him suffer by her temper and 
her tongue. A man should stand by his bargain 
to the end, even if he feels he is having the worst 
of it. Don’t you agree with me ? ” 

“ Indeed I do. Dr. Skates,” said Valetta. 

“ Even if,” the Doctor went on, “ her unreason- 
able jealousy should make life something of a 
burden, and should cut one off from the harmless 
but delightful pleasures of congenial and charming 
society.” 

He said this with just enough significance for 
it to be complimentary without being too pointed. 
Valetta could only bow her head in assent. She 
was rather glad that at that moment two or three 
children came from the drawing-room on their 


2i8 


A Desperate Game 

way out, and gave her the excuse of getting away 
from the Doctor. 

The last of the guests had left the house before 
twelve o'clock, and Gaspard and Michael had gone 
up to their rooms on the second floor, when the 
younger of these two, hearing a sound of angry 
voices from the floor below, told his brother that 
he meant to go downstairs and find out what it was. 

But Gaspard would have stopped him. 

You know very well what it is," said he. 
‘‘ It’s the Doctor quarrelling with his wife. Surely 
you wouldn’t play the spy, and condescend to 
listen.’’ 

But Michael laughed. 

‘‘ You’re Quixotic,’’ said he. Of course I 
shouldn’t listen to conversation not meant for me 
in any ordinary case. But this is not an ordinary 
case. Here’s a swindler firmly established in the 
midst of us, and it will take all the means at our 
disposal to root him out. Let me go.’’ 

And he freed himself roughly from the grasp 
of his brother’s hand, and stole downstairs. 

The voices came from the Doctor’s room, and 
Michael, as he crept up to the door, could make 
out that Mrs. Skates was upbraiding her husband, 
and that his efforts were directed to soothing and 
silencing her. Very few words reached Michael’s 
ears, only the passionate sobbing of the woman 
and the earnest tones of the man, until the woman’s 
voice suddenly wailed out : 

After all I’ve done for you, suffered for you, 
after to-night — this awful night, oh, it’s too bad ! 
I can’t bear it ! ’’ 


219 


A Desperate Game 

Again the Doctor soothed, pacified ; but only 
for a few moments. After a silence her voice 
rang out again : 

“ 1 know you mean to throw me over, as you 
did before. All for this girl ! 

Again the Doctor spoke, but he was always too 
clever to let his words rise above a whisper. 
Then Mrs. Skates spoke again, and although her 
voice, too, was low, yet the more piercing tones 
of the woman carried her words far enough for 
Michael to be able to make them out with suf- 
ficient distinctness. 

Oh, yes, she’ll serve your purpose, of course. 
But I don’t mean to be shelved again. If you 
try to get away this time, as you did before. 
I’ll ” 

What the threat was that she would have 
uttered Michael never knew, for by the sound 
which followed he was sure that the Doctor was 
muffling her speech by physical force. Gurgling, 
gasping, the woman’s voice sobbed out : Don’t, 
oh, don’t ! ” 

And then there was dead silence. 

Although he had braved the matter out with 
his brother, Michael had come downstairs with a 
very shamefaced feeling that the step he was 
taking of listening to talk not meant for him was 
despicable and unworthy. 

No sooner, however, had he heard these words 
than he at once felt justified in his own eyes. No 
means must be neglected in the effort to get rid 
of two people so wholly dangerous and untrust- 
worthy as the Doctor and his wife had proved 


220 


A Desperate Game 

themselves, by the lips of the latter, to be. As 
he stole quietly away from the door, satisfied that 
he had heard enough to justify his worst suspicions, 
Michael was seized by the torturing thought that 
the woman of whom Mrs. Skates was jealous was 
not, after all, the girl with the long dark hair, but 
pretty Valetta Bell, with whom the Doctor cer- 
tainly lost no chance of ingratiating himself. 

The thought was a poisoned dart to the un- 
happy Michael, whose love for the girl had in- 
creased with every day that he passed under the 
same roof with her. 

He told himself that she was too high-minded 
to listen to the Doctor’s flatteries, too clever to 
be taken in by his artifices. Nevertheless, he re- 
membered how often he had seen her in con- 
versation with the Doctor, and although he knew 
that these talks were not of her seeking, the un- 
easy consciousness remained that she had not 
avoided them. 

Uneasy and restless, Michael could not go to 
bed. He knew that sleep for him, in his agitated 
condition, was out of the question, and instead of 
going upstairs, he crept along the corridor, and 
turned the corner into the East wing, where he 
sat down in a window-seat from which he could 
get a wide view of the garden and grounds, and 
look disconsolately out at the pathway of moon- 
light which now spread over the lawn. 

He had, in so doing, no practical object what- 
ever. He meant to see the detective in the 
morning, and to find out all about Dr. Skates’s 
antecedents in the character of “ Anderson ; ” but 


221 


A Desperate Game 

he had no suspicion that Watkin would be on 
the watch at this time of night, when he might 
well suppose the man he was shadowing to be in 
bed and asleep. 

When, therefore, his attention was suddenly- 
called to the fact that there was a dark object 
moving under the trees at the other side of the 
lawn, he was unfeignedly surprised. He stood 
up, strained his eyes to look out. He^was, how- 
ever, much too far away, and the light of the 
moon was too fitful for him to ascertain anything 
further ; and as he could make out nothing more, 
he began to think his fancy had misled him. 

He remained, however, sitting in the window - 
seat and looking out towards the plantation for 
some considerable time, during which no sight or 
sound attracted his attention. He had just made 
up his mind to go up to his room and try to get 
some sleep when it occurred to him to raise the 
window a little way, and he had scarcely done this 
when a faint sound, occurring at regular intervals, 
convinced him that something unusual was going 
on outside. 

So he shut the window down very softly, stole 
down-stairs, and let himself out by one of the 
garden doors. 

By this time he could hear the sound more 
plainly, without yet being able to make out what 
it was. He was pretty certain, however, that it 
proceeded from the plantation, and it was there 
that he had thought he saw a figure under the 
trees. 

Skirting the lawn very cautiously to avoid cross- 


222 


A Desperate Game 

ing the path of somewhat murky moonlight, 
Michael soon reached the shelter of the trees. 
Behind a yew hedge which cut off the lawn and 
flower garden from the rest of the grounds, there 
was an enormous stack of underwood, built up 
and stored for household use, and as he ap- 
proached this from one side, Michael was pretty 
sure that the work, which he now thought must 
be that of digging, was in progress on the other. 
Who could be at work at such a time ? . And 
with what object was he pursuing his mysterious 
labors ? Full of a mysterious sense that he was 
on the track of some deed uncanny if not unlaw- 
ful, the young man slackened his speed, so that 
no cracking of a dry branch, no rustle of young 
leaves, should betray his presence to the still un- 
seen worker. Unluckily for his purpose, before 
he reached the stack of brushwood, the moon was 
entirely obscured by a thick cloud. Should he 
wait until its full light shone out again ? Or 
should he go on blindly, and seize the mysterious 
personage in the dark ? 

He was by this time half-way round the stack, 
and through the protruding twigs he saw, indis- 
tinctly indeed, but without any possibility of a 
doubt as to the main fact, that a man was at work 
on the end of the potato patch, digging in the 
ground. 

Stupefied with amazement, Michael stared in 
silence for a few moments, until the sudden giving 
way of part of the brushwood under the hand 
with which he was parting the twigs, betrayed the 
fact of his presence, 


223 


A Desperate Game 

He could see the man stop in his work and 
turn. Feeling that he could no longer remain in 
concealment, Michael came out into the open. 
Instantly the man flung down his spade and be- 
gan to run away at the top of his speed. Michael 
at once gave chase ; but he had not gone twenty 
steps when, crossing without heed the very place 
where the man had been at work, his right leg 
sank into a deep hole, and he fell prostrate on the 
ground, uttering a sharp cry of pain. 

Without knowing exactly what had happened 
to him, except that he was so much hurt as to be 
for a moment sick and incapable of movement, 
Michael presently recovered himself and made 
one brisk attempt to get out of the hole and on 
his feet again. 

Then the agony which convulsed him in every 
limb told him the truth. With a moan he fell 
forward on his face, clutching the grass and weeds 
with straining fingers. He was powerless, help- 
less : his right leg was broken. 

He tried to cry out, and felt, even at that mo- 
ment, astonishment to find how weak his voice 
had suddenly become ; then it was as if some one 
else called out for help, and he found himself 
raising his head to listen. Then, as he felt the 
perspiration rolling down his cold face, he shivered, 
and knew that it was not to another voice, not to 
an echo of his own, but to his own cry that he 
had been listening. 

A little broken laugh died on his lips, and he 
sank shivering, face downwards, on the ground 
again. 


^24 A Desperate Game 

He could never tell afterwards just what hap- 
pened : he thought he went to sleep and woke 
up again, and slept once more, at short intervals, 
for what seemed a long, long time. And while 
he was neither asleep, nor fully awake, some one 
came stealthily up to him, approaching him from 
behind. Half afraid that he was going to be mur- 
dered, and yet not quite sure whether he was 
dreaming or not, Michael had sense enough left 
to tell himself that he had better lie quite still, 
and not ask this unknown, unseen creature for 
assistance. 

And then he lost consciousness altogether once 
more. 

Presently, however, he came to himself with a 
start, saw some one in the blackness under the 
trees, and was impelled, rather by instinct than 
by what he saw, to cry out : 

‘‘ Doctor ! Doctor Skates ! ” 

No one came, however, and the figure he half 
saw, half imagined, faded away altogether, as 
Michael, exhausted with his efforts to make him- 
self heard, sank again into silence. 

It was very shortly after this that Gaspard was 
roused from sleep by a loud knocking at his door. 

‘‘ Mr. Gaspard ! Mr. Gaspard ! ” 

He sprang out of bed, wondering, recognizing 
two voices one of which was Valetta Belfs. 

It was her voice which then said : 

“ Will you please go to Mr. Michael’s room, 
and see ifhe’s there. We’ve knocked at his door, 
and can’t get any answer.” 

Gaspard dressed hastily, and went out into the 


A Desperate Game 225 

corridor, where he found Valetta and one of the 
maidservants, whom she had roused from sleep 
in the first place. She then told Gaspard, as he 
crossed the corridor to his brother’s room, that 
she had been sitting up with a book, when she 
had a fancy she heard a cry. Opening her win- 
dow, she said she fancied she heard Michael’s 
voice calling out, ‘ Doctor, Doctor Skates ! ’ She 
added that she had then run to the servants’ 
rooms, roused one of the housemaids, and asked 
her to come with her. They had knocked at 
Michael’s door, but had got no answer. 

In a very few seconds Gaspard had discovered 
his brother’s absence, and a great commotion 
followed. The household was roused : Miss 
Farebrother and Dr. and Mrs. Skates all came 
out of their rooms. Everybody asked everybody 
else questions which no one could answer. 

In the meantime, Valetta persisted in her asser- 
tion that the cry she had heard came from out of 
doors. It had sounded quite faint until she had 
opened the window. 

A search party was organized, and it was not 
long before Valetta and Gaspard came upon the 
unfortunate Michael, who, on hearing the shouts 
they all raised, had just had strength enough to 
utter a groan in reply. 

He was at once carried indoors, and a doctor 
was sent for, who set his broken leg, and did 
what he could for the unfortunate man, who 
was stiff and benumbed with the cold. 

He was anxious to ask questions, to enter into 
explanations, but this the doctor resolutely forbade. 

15 


226 


A Desperate Game 

“ Unless you will promise to lie quietly, and 
without any attempt at talking,’’ he said, “ 1 shall 
have to spend the rest of the night with you my- 
self. By the by,” he added, turning to that 
group of members of the sympathetic sex who 
had been assisting him in his work, who’s going 
to sit by him and look after him ? ” 

Mrs. Skates at once offered her services, and 
at once the patient electrified everybody by calling 
out from the bed an emphatic ‘‘ No ! ” 

This rather awkward little incident having been 
passed over it was decided by Miss Farebrother 
that Jarman should be sick nurse — Jarman, the 
discreet, the reticent, the safe. 

Michael made a wry face, but he submitted. 

Indeed there was nothing else to be done, for 
he was very ill. The illness caused by his broken 
limb had been greatly aggravated by cold and 
exposure, so that the doctor felt considerable 
anxiety about him. 

In spite of all admonitions, however, there was 
one thing upon which he insisted on the follow- 
ing morning. 

He told Jarman that he must see the odd man 
who had been engaged on the previous day, and 
directed her to bring the man to his room quietly, 
without saying anything about it to anybody. 
This would be the easier, as it had been thought 
undesirable to carry Michael up-stairs, and the 
breakfast-room had been turned into a sick-room 
for his accommodation. 

Jarman, who saw that it would not do to refuse 


A Desperate Game ^^7 

him, went obediently, after some vain protest, in 
search of the odd man. 

She returned, however, in a few minutes, with 
the unwelcome intelligence that he had dis- 
appeared. 

At first Michael was inclined to doubt her, and 
when her manner showed him that she was telling 
the truth, he grew excited, full of the conviction 
that this disappearance portended an arrest. No 
doubt Watkin had gone back to Scotland Yard, 
armed with full information, and ready for im- 
mediate action. 

He was working up to late last night, and he 
promised to be here the first thing this morning, 
by half-past seven, in fact. Cook's in a regular 
taking because he hasn’t turned up,” went on 
Jarman. 

And then an odd doubt that sent a shiver 
through him, darted into Michael’s mind. 

Why had the man promised to come again, if 
he meant to go back at once to town ? There 
was nothing to be gained, but some suspicion to 
be risked, by telling such a tale ? And why had 
he not at least waited for the chance of a few 
words with Michael, who had employed him on 
this work ? 


CHAPTER XIX 

Jarman was alarmed by the effect of her news 
upon the invalid. On learning that the “ odd 
man,” whom he knew to be Watkin, the detective, 


228 A Desperate Game 

had disappeared, Michael was seized by a sinister 
thought. Had the astute Doctor Skates ‘‘nob- 
bled ” the man who knew too much ? Had he 
bribed the officer to return to Scotland Yard to 
report that he had been put upon a wrong scent ? 

Michael hardly knew why such thoughts as 
these should find the place they did in his imagi- 
nation, since, apart from the utter improbability 
that a detective of experience would suffer himself 
to be bought so easily by a rogue, there remained 
the fact that such a proceeding must inevitably 
lead to his own detection at no distant date. 

How great, too, would be the credit obtainable 
by the detective if he succeeded in bringing to 
book* an old offender, who had escaped the 
clutches of the law for a long time ! 

The worry and excitement of his surmises and 
conjectures promised to make Michael’s illness a 
long and serious one. A couple of trained nurses 
had already been sent for, for although Miss 
Farebrother did not come to see her nephew her- 
self, after the first visit she had paid on the 
previous night, she spared no expense in having 
him properly attended. 

Besides this matter of the disappearance of 
Watkin, there remained the mystery of the events 
of the night before to disturb Michael. Who 
was the man whom he had surprised in the strange 
work of digging a hole in the ground in the middle 
of the night? Was it Watkin who had, been 
thus engaged ? And if so, what had he done it 
for ? And why had he run away at the approach 


A Desperate Game 229 

of footsteps, and darted off at breakneck pace to 
avoid pursuit? 

Michael had indeed a fancy that he caught 
sight of a figure like that of Dr. Skates, when 
he himself was lying helpless on the ground. 
But he could not swear that this was not the re- 
sult of a feverish and wandering imagination act- 
ing upon the fact that the Doctor and his wife had 
been much in his thoughts during the evening. 

What did it all mean ? What would clever 
Valetta Bell think of it ? 

There was no way of getting a talk with her ; he 
tried to induce Jarman to ask her to come to him 
for a few minutes, but to this the staid servant 
only replied that Miss Bell was with Miss Fare- 
brother and Mrs. Skates, both of whom were 
very much upset by the disturbances of the night. 
Jarman did not dare to deliver any such message, 
as long as the young lady was with the other 
ladies at any rate. 

Poor Valetta, indeed, was having a trying time 
with the two ladies upstairs. Miss Farebrother 
had insisted upon Mrs. Skates' coming to her as 
usual in the morning, although it was plain from 
the appearance the unfortunate woman presented 
that she ought to have remained in bed. But the 
truth was that Miss Farebrother had been seized 
by suspicion of everybody around her, and had 
made up her mind, to all appearance, to put their 
devotion to the proof. 

With Valetta her manner was cold and capri- 
cious, and the poor little companion was not 
long in discovering the cause of this. 


23 ° A Desperate Game 

‘‘ How was it that you were the first person to 
hear my nephew when he called out ? ” she asked 
sharply, when Valetta was kneeling down in front 
of her, trying to disentangle the threads of the 
old lady’s embroidery. 

Valetta started and reddened a little. 

“ I was the only person awake, I suppose,” 
said she. 

And why were you awake ? It must have 
been three or four o’clock in the morning ! ” 

I don’t quite know. I had been to bed, and 
couldn’t sleep. So I got up, lit a candle, and be- 
gan to read.” 

Most dangerous things — candles in a bed- 
room ! ” murmured Mrs. Skates fretfully. 

“ Oh, I was sitting up at the table,” explained 
Valetta. 

‘‘ And how was it you recognized Michael’s 
voice ? It seems to me very odd ! ” went on 
Miss Farebrother. 

To this Valetta made no reply whatever. She 
drew her lips rather closely together, and bent 
over her task, while the two elder ladies exchanged 
glances. 

“ I wonder what on earth he was doing out of 
doors, at such a time of night,” then said Miss 
Farebrother. “ He’s always doing something to 
upset us all ! I’ve no doubt he was in mischief 
of some kind.’^ 

‘‘ He certainly has a most unfortunate habit of 
rousing the house in the middle of the night,” 
remarked Mrs. Skates. ‘‘ This is the third or 
fourth scare he has given us all. And he always 


A Desperate Game ^3^ 

seems rather proud of himself, instead of apolo- 
gizing to you for disturbing your rest, dearest.” 

‘‘ He's most inconsiderate,” said the old lady 
sharply. ‘‘ I think you and the good Doctor 
must begin to repent your good nature in per- 
suading them to stay here, when they pretended 
to have made up their minds to go away.” 

Now both the elder ladies, being in a cross and 
irritable mood after the disturbed night they had 
had, were most anxious to provoke Valetta to re- 
tort, so that they could turn their anger upon her. 
But she was too artful for them. She just bent 
her pretty head lower, and pressed her lips tightly 
together, and let them abuse the unfortunate 
Michael without uttering a word in his defence. 

But when she was at last for a few minutes off 
duty, she ran down into the garden for a breath 
of fresh air, with a very flushed and angry little face. 

Dr. Skates presently joined her, as she was 
walking round the lawn in the spring sunlight. 
She had turned her steps in the direction of the spot 
where Michael had been discovered on the pre- 
vious night. 

“ Where are you going to, my pretty maid ^ ” 
asked the Doctor, who was as fresh as a lark, and 
presented a striking contrast to the wan faces of 
the ladies. 

‘‘ Oh, I’m only going to see the place where 
Mr. Michael fell down,” said she. 

You’ll get your feet very wet,” said the Doc- 
tor, dissuasively, “ the dew’s been falling heavily, 
and the grass is long all round there.” 

But Valetta had made up her mind. She went 


23^ A Desperate Game 

steadily on through the double belt of elms, past 
the yew hedge, and across the potato patch until 
she had got to the place where, as she judged, the 
unlucky man had been found. Then she stopped 
short with an exclamation ; and the Doctor, who 
had lingered by the hedge, looked up and called 
out : 

“What’s the matter 

“ Oh, Dr. Skates,” cried she, “ come here and 
look. Isn’t it exactly as if — ” 

She stopped short and began to look about her 
with rather a frightened face. The Doctor came 
across to her at once, and asked quickly : 

“ My dear child, what’s the matter ? You look 
quite frightened ? ” 

Indeed the girl was white and trembling, and 
it was some seconds before she said : 

“ Look there, look, look ! Isn’t it like a 
grave ? As if some one had been digging a grave 
there ? ” 

Even the Doctor was shocked by this sug- 
gestion. He glanced at her quickly, and changed 
color, and did not at once speak. Then he said, 
speaking hoarsely, and in short jerks : 

“ What a horrid, ugly notion ! What makes 
you think ” 

Valetta tried to laugh. 

“ Oh, of course I know it isn’t that,” she said, 
surprised at the effect of her own words. “ But 
doesn’t it really look like one? You see the 
hole is long and narrow, and rather deep. It’s 
just like a grave that is nearly finished, now isn’t 
it? And to think,” she went on with a sudden 


A Desperate Game ^33 

burst of tears, “ that — that— if we hadn^t heard 

him, it might really 

She could not go on. Really the Doctor 
seemed almost as much moved as she was. The 
girl liked him for it, was comforted to see the 
pallor of her own face reflected in his. 

My dear, dear young lady,” he said, and his 
voice was still hoarse and even broken, you 
mustn’t get such ideas into your head. Why, if 
you were to say that to your aunt, or to my 
wife ” 

Oh, but I shouldn’t,” interrupted Valetta, 
quickly. You may trust me. Dr. Skates. I 
should know better than that.” 

‘‘ Why, what on earth put such a dreadful 
notion into your head ? ” 

He was trying to draw her away from the hole 
in the ground — but it seemed to have a sinister 
fascination for her. 

Doctor, what do you think this hole was for? ” 
she asked, suddenly. ‘‘Who made it? Look, 
the earth has been freshly turned over. It can’t 
have been done long ! ” 

“ Come away, and don’t trouble your head 
about such things ! ” cried the Doctor, as with 
an impatient pull, he took her right away from 
the spot. “ It’s part of some of the gardener’s 
work. No doubt they made it to store potatoes 
in, or turnips. Come away, and don’t worry 
yourself about it any more.” 

But Valetta, though she said nothing more 
about the strange hole in the ground, went back 
to look at it again when the Doctor had gone 


^34 A Desperate Game 

indoors. And the more she looked, the more 
uncanny did it appear to her. 

When she went back into the house, she found 
Dr. and Mrs. Skates in the dining-room, the 
latter in tears. It was evident that she was still 
suffering from the events of the previous night. 

“ Here’s a pretty business ! ” cried the Doctor, 
as soon as Valetta entered the room. ‘‘ My wife 
is totally unnerved by the fright we had in the 
night, and is hardly fit to be about. And Fm 
pretty certain Miss Farebrother will be ill too, 
with all this worry and excitement.” Mrs. Skates 
started up from her chair, and would have run 
out of the room, but her husband, with sudden 
gravity and with great kindness of manner, stopped 
her and made her sit down. 

My dear Miss Bell, ” said he, would you 
touch the bell for me ? She must have a glass of 
wine to steady her nerves. We don’t want to 
have a whole houseful of invalids ! ” 

“ Don’t you think,” suggested Valetta, as she 
did what he asked, ‘‘ that she would be better in 
bed ? She seems utterly worn out.” 

Mrs. Skates suddenly drew herself up, and 
darted quite a fierce look at the girl. 

“ I shall not go to bed,” she said sharply. “ I 
am quite well.” And then she sank down on a 
chair, and burst into a flood of hysterical tears. 

The Doctor went to her side, and Valetta took 
the opportunity of trying to slip quietly out of the 
room, for the manner in which Mrs. Skates re- 
garded her was too openly inimical to be pleasant 
to bear. She had scarcely touched the handle of 


A Desperate Game ^35 

the door, however, when Mrs. Skates started up 
from her seat, and asked harshly : 

“ Where are you going ? ” 

“ Only to see whether Miss Farebrother wants 
me,’’ answered the young companion, rather taken 
aback by this tone. 

‘‘You shall not go. You shall not take my 
place,” burst out Mrs. Skates hysterically, while 
Valetta paused and looked at the Doctor, uncer- 
tain what to do. 

She was not without suspicions of the Doctor 
as well as of his wife ; for the mysterious events 
of the previous evening and the words of Michael 
were still fresh in her memory. But the Doctor’s 
manner was so good, so hearty and unaffected, that 
it was impossible not to feel one’s prepossessions 
against him melting away while the charm of his 
presence was upon one. 

Mrs. Skates, on the other hand, by her petu- 
lance and unkindness, had already made a very 
unpleasant impression upon Valetta, which cer- 
tain discoveries she had made the night before 
had only tended to strengthen. 

Thus it was that the young companion in- 
tinctively looked to the Doctor, uncertain what 
to do in the face of this outburst on the part of 
his wife. 

He gave her a little reassuring nod, as if he 
quite understood the difficulties of her position, 
and then turned in a soothing manner to his wife. 

“ Very well, my dear,” he said, patting her 
shoulder as if she had been a child, and directing 
the servant, who had now entered the room in 


^36 A Desperate Game 

answer to the summons, to bring some sherry, 
“ very well. Miss Bell only wants to know that 
Miss Farebrother is not being neglected, don't 
you ? " And he turned to the girl with a little 
frown and a nod, to imply that she was to agree 
to this. 

Yes, oh yes, that's all," said Valetta timidly. 

And if you, my dear Blanche, feel equal to 
going up to our dear friend, and keeping her com- 
pany, I'm sure Miss Bell does not want to fore- 
stall you. Only it is certain that one or the other 
of you must go at once. I am very anxious about 
the effect upon her of all this disturbance, and I 
don't want her to be left alone." 

Valetta waited while Mrs. Skates drank the 
sherry which her husband offered her, and looked 
rather puzzled as to what she ought to do. But 
the moment she again turned towards the door 
Mrs. Skates jumped up once more, with almost 
a scream, and a scared look at the Doctor, and 
saying : ‘‘I'm perfectly well now ; I'm going 
now," hurried past her and up the stairs. 

Valetta, angry with both husband and wife, 
though she scarcely knew why, except that their 
conduct was a trifle puzzling, would not listen to 
the Doctor's offer of the morning papers, but went 
slowly up to her own room, and sat down to 
wonder what was going to happen. 

Certainly Mrs. Skates had always been jealous 
of her influence, such as it was, with Miss Fare- 
brother ; but she had never shown it quite so 
clearly as this morning, when, strangely enough. 
Miss Farebrother was in the mood to be very 


A Desperate Game ^37 

dissatisfied with her young companion. Why 
was Mrs. Skates so extremely anxious to keep the 
girl, whom she looked upon as a rival, out of her 
employer’s rooms ? Valetta felt curiosity only, 
not resentment, as she much preferred to be free 
from the exacting humors of Miss Farebrother 
when she was in an ill-temper, as she certainly was 
this morning. But, on the other hand, the girl 
was anxious not to appear to shirk her duty, and 
she was therefore divided between the wish to go 
to the boudoir, and the wish to stay away from 
it. And while she waited, and hesitated what to 
do, the bell in Miss Farebrother’s room rang out 
with a long, persistent tinkle. 

Valetta ran to the door, but Mrs. Skates, who 
instantly appeared at it with a white, scared face, 
repulsed her sharply. 

“I rang for Jarman. Send her to me,” she 
said at once. 

Valetta obeyed without delay, and retreated 
again to her own room, which was near at hand. 
There she waited for nearly an hour, when she 
was able to waylay Jarman, as the maid came out 
into the corridor with a grave face. 

What’s the matter, Jarman ? ” asked the 
young girl, quickly. 

The maid shook her head. 

‘‘ Ah, the poor dear ! The Doctor was quite 
right : he said last night’s business would upset 
her. And sure enough it has ! She’s been that 
ill for the last hour I began to think we should 
lose her, I did indeed.” 

You’ve sent for a doctor, of course ? ” 


^3^ A Desperate Game 

“ No, madam. She won’t hear of it. It’s 
some fad of Dr. Skates and his wife, you know, 
to do without doctors ; faith-healing, or some such 
rubbish they call it ; and so we’ve got her through 
as best we could. But sKe was sick, and in great 
pain, and Mrs. Skates, for all she sets up fora 
good sick-nurse, was as nervous and useless as 
possible. I’d a great mind to call you in ; for all 
you’re so young and inexperienced, you’d have 
been a lot more use than she was.” 

Valetta listened with the deepest gravity, and 
said nothing at all in answer. It was not until 
she had drawn Jarman into her own room and 
shut the door that she said, as if casually : 

What began the illness, do you know? ” 

“ I can’t think, madam. Unless it was indh 
gestion. That’s what she put it down to herself, 
eating several things she isn’t used to last night 
at the supper. She says she felt unwell quite 
early this morning, and that she would have 
done better not to take her beef-tea as usual at 
eleven.” 

‘‘ But she always has that ! ” 

“Yes. But she thinks it was too heavy for 
her to-day.” 

Valetta expressed surprise, but Jarman was too 
much disturbed and grieved to have any definite 
idea on the subject. 

“ Has she asked for me ? Do you think I 
might go in ? ” 

“ I’ll ask her.” 

Jarman went back into the bedroom, and 
while she was gone, Valetta heard the Doctor’s 


239 


A Desperate Game 

step on the stairs, and started a little when he 
came up to her, asking what that loud ringing at 
the bell was for. 

Valetta looked up at him. 

“ Did you hear it ? ” she said quietly. It 
was Miss Farebrother's bell. She was taken ill, 
seriously ill.” 

Dear, dear ; you don't piean that ! ” cried 
he, anxiously. 

‘‘ Yes ; Jarman will tell you about it. Don’t 
you think we ought to send for a doctor ? ” 

Certainly, if she wishes to see one,” said he, 
readily. “ I’ll find out if she does, and go for 
one myself if necessary.” 

At this point Gaspard, who was passing down- 
stairs when he heard a few of these words, came 
up and asked what was the matter. 

What is that about sending for a doctor ^ ” 
he said. 

Valetta turned to him at once. 

Your aunt’s been taken very ill, with violent 
pain and sickness, Mr. Gaspard,” said she quickly. 

Don’t you think a doctor ought to be sent for, 
whether she wishes it or not ? ” 

“ Indeed I do, and I insist upon it too. I’ll 
go at once for Dr. Preston, who used to attend us 
in the old days.” 

And before Dr. Skates, who was frowning 
angrily at the brusque manner in which the young 
man had ignored him during this short colloquy, 
could put in a word, Gaspard ran downstairs and 
out of the house. 


240 


A Desperate Game 


CHAPTER XX 

‘‘Really, the manners of these nephews of 
Miss Farebrother’s leave room for improve- 
ment,” said the Doctor, as he heard the door slam 
behind the young man. 

“ He was not very polite, certainly,” said Val- 
etta. “ But I suppose we must make allowance 
for his anxiety about his aunt.” 

“ But I’m quite as anxious about her as he can 
be. I don’t, however, think it necessary to insult 
everybody I meet on that account.” 

They were in the middle of the corridor, not 
many steps from the door of Miss Farebrother’s 
bedroom. As the Doctor finished speaking, the 
door opened a little way, and Mrs. Skates looked 
out, and beckoned to her husband. 

Valetta took advantage of this diversion to run 
quickly to the door of the dressing-room which, 
however, she found locked. So she knocked at 
it sharply, in the hope that Jarman would hear 
and come to her. 

In the meantime, as she waited, she saw by the 
faces of the Doctor and his wife, though their 
whispered words were uttered too low for her to 
hear, that they were in earnest conversation. 
Mrs. Skates had just drawn her husband’s atten- 
tion to Valetta, when the key of the dressing- 
room door was turned from within, and Jarman, 
putting her hand out quickly, drew the young 


A Desperate Game 241 

companion inside before Mrs. Skates could inter- 
fere to prevent her entrance. 

‘‘ There ! ” whispered the maid triumphantly, 

IVe got you in. That Mrs. Skates didn’t want 
me to, said you were too young and persuaded 
Miss Farebrother to agree with her. But now 
you’re in I expect you’ll be allowed to stay. 
Come in, quick, and keep quiet. And it will 
be all right.” 

She led Valetta, even while she spoke, to the 
door of the bedroom, and gently pushed her in. 
Miss Farebrother was lying in bed, with her eyes 
closed, looking so pale and worn that the girl was 
frightened. Surely, she thought, this was the ap- 
proach of death. She did not attempt to speak, 
but slid quietly into a chair by the fire, to be ready 
in case she should be wanted. 

She had scarcely done so when Mrs. Skates 
came back into the room, and started with an ex- 
clamation at the sight of her. To Valetta’s sur- 
prise, she did not even lower her voice as s^he 
asked sharply : — 

“ Who told you to come in here ? ” 

S — h ! ” said the Doctor from outside the 
door, which his wife had left ajar. 

But the warning came rather late. With a 
start. Miss Farebrother had already opened her 
eyes, and she now said querulously, What is 
it ! What’s the matter ? Can’t you be quiet, 
Blanche ? ” 

Valetta saw the Doctor’s finger inserted through 
the doorway, beckoning to his wife, who went 
sullenly across to him, and again exchanged a 

16 


^4^ A Desperate Game 

whisper with him. In the meantime Miss Fare- 
brother saw Valetta, and faintly smiled at her. 
The girl got up and approached the bed, and 
the old lady feebly put out her hand to take hers. 
The movement, however, had not escaped the 
lynx eyes of Mrs. Skates, who turned from the 
door to say : 

“ Miss Bell, I think it's very unwise of you to 
intrude here just now. So many people about 
her will disturb the dear lady. Two at a time 
are quite enough.” 

She spoke with the extreme irritability which 
had characterized her every utterance since the pre- 
vious evening ; and it was plain, even as she said 
these words, that the tones of her voice grated 
upon the invalid. It came, however, like a bomb- 
shell upon the whole party when Miss Fare- 
brother suddenly found voice to say : 

“ You’re right, Blanche. Let me have only 
two at a time. Leave me with Miss Bell and 
Jarman, and go away and rest yourself.” 

Mrs. Skates, confounded by this ukase, pro- 
tested, stammered ; but it was of no use. Miss 
Farebrother could be very autocratic when she 
pleased, and nothing would move her now. With 
a wave of the hand she signified this, and Mrs. 
Skates, with a look at Valetta, which can best be 
described as venomous, went slowly towards the 
door. 

The Doctor outside, who must have heard every 
word of this, now spoke in the most persuasive 
of voices : 

It’s very kind of Miss Farebrother, my dear 


A Desperate Game 243 

Blanche, and she’s quite right, quite right. You’ll 
be ill yourself if you don’t take some repose. 
My dear Miss Farebrother,” he went on through 
the door, in tones of deep solicitude, let me take 
this opportunity of telling you how grieved we all 
are at your illness. Your nephews insist that you 
must see a doctor. Gaspard, in particular, says 
he will not allow you to refuse.” 

It may be that the Doctor expected the answer 
he got to this speech : at any rate, there was a 
slight smile on his face as the old lady called out, 
feebly indeed as to voice, but with unmistakable 
firmness of purpose : 

‘‘ I won’t see him ! I won’t see any doctor. 
Tell my nephews I intend to die peacefully, when 
I do die, and without any help from their friends.” 

Valetta heard these words, and pondered them 
carefully. It occurred to her to wonder whether 
Dr. Skates was anxious that no medical man 
should attend the invalid. She was a shrewd 
little person, this Dresden china shepherdess with 
the big eyes, and no casual observer would have 
guessed at the thoughts which began to spin in 
her pretty head as she sat down quietly beside the 
bed and looked demurely at the carpet. 

The Doctor’s voice, meanwhile, was speaking 
again in the most soothing tones : 

“ Oh dear, oh dear, you can’t expect me to 
make mischief by saying such a thing as that, my 
dear lady ! I daren’t give them such a message. 
I really daren’t. You must send it, if you insist, 
by some one more courageous than I.” 

By this time Mrs. Skates had left the room, 


244 


A Desperate Game 

and the Doctor, with a few more kindly words, 
shut the door softly and went away also. 

For two hours or more Miss Farebrother lay 
with her eyes closed, except when Jarman an- 
nounced that Dr. Preston had come, when the 
wilful old lady gave her one look and sent her 
away with the curt message that she was much 
obliged to her nephews for their solicitude, but 
she did not want a doctor, as she was not ill. 

At the end of the two hours, however, she sat 
up a little and answered Jarman’s inquiry as to 
whether she would like anything to eat or drink, 
with an assent. 

“ A little chicken broth, madam, or arrow- 
root ? ” asked the maid. 

Oh, whichever you like,” answered Miss Fare- 
brother ; “ only be careful how it’s made.” 

Oh, yes, madam. Mrs. Skates told me to 
make whatever you had myself, so I’ve got a fire 
in the dressing-room.” 

‘‘ That’s right. I’m sure it was that beef-tea 
that made me ill,” said Miss Farebrother, as she 
closed her eyes again. 

The day wore away very quietly, and Miss 
Farebrother made no further complaint of pain or 
uneasiness. 

Jarman and the young companion remained in 
the three rooms which composed the old lady’s 
suite, and nobody else came into the bedroom. 
Towards the end of the afternoon, however, Valetta 
thought she heard a slight sound of footsteps in 
the dressing-room, and going softly across the 
floor, she peeped in, and saw Dr. Skates as he went 


A Desperate Game 245 

quietly and quickly out by the door into the 
corridor. 

Miss Bell said nothing to anybody about what 
she had seen, but she went back on tiptoe into 
the bedroom, and sitting down by the fire, appeared 
to be considering deeply. Then she went up to 
the door which led out direct into the corridor, 
and turned the key in the lock. Miss Farebrother 
was dozing and did not hear her, but Jarman stared 
at her in amazement. 

Valetta beckoned the maid into the next room, 
and putting her hand on her arm, said earnestly : 

‘‘ Jarman, you don't think me silly just because 
Tm young, do you 

‘‘ Why no, madam, I don’t think you silly at 
all. I’m sure you’re very clever,” said the maid 
with conviction. 

“ And you know, don’t you, that it’s a very 
responsible thing, for you and me to have to nurse 
Miss Farebrother without a doctor ? ” 

“Yes, I do indeed,” said poor Jarman, with a 
melancholy face. 

“ Because, if anything were to happen to her,” 
(Jarman started violently) “ people might say it 
was your fault or mine, mightn’t they ? ” 

“ I’m sure, I wish I had nothing to do with it ! ” 
moaned poor Jarman much alarmed by this sug- 
gestion. 

The young girl seized her bony arm in a firm 
grip. 

“ Well, listen to me. I know something of 
sick nursing, really, and I’m ready to take the 
whole responsibility upon myself, upon one con- 


^24^ A Desperate Game 

dition, and that is, that you’ll do exactly whatever 
I tell you, and that you’ll say nothing whatever 
about what we’re doing except just what I say. 
Just what I say you must say, mind, even if it 
surprises you very much.” 

It was not to be wondered at that poor Jarman 
hesitated before pledging herself to such an ex- 
traordinary course of action. But Valetta drew 
up her little figure, and said imperiously : 

“ If you won’t agree. I’ll go to my own room, 
and I won’t come back here again. I’ll leave you 
and Mrs. Skates to manage between you.” 

But at that Jarman gave way. 

“ Oh, no, anything but that, madam,” she said 
earnestly. Mrs. Skates means well, no doubt. 
But she is, if I may say so, such a muddler, and 
she fusses so dreadfully, that I wouldn’t really 
answer for the consequences if she were to keep on 
fidgeting about here as she’s been doing this 
morning. And she looks so woebegone for an- 
other thing that it’s enough to make one ill to look 
at her ! ” 

“Very well then, that’s settled,” said Valetta. 
“ Now, to begin with, you’re to keep the door of 
this room locked, and the door of the dressing- 
room unlocked — the doors leading into the corri- 
dor, I mean.” 

“ But if there’s a door left unlocked, Mrs. Skates 
is sure to come fussing.” 

“ Do as I tell you,” interrupted Valetta. “ And 
in the next place, you are to keep a fire going in 
both rooms, and you are to go on making Miss 


247 


A Desperate Game 

Farebrother’s beef-tea and arrowroot, and toast and 
tea, and whatever she wants, in the next room. 
We had better not have anything brought from 
downstairs.” 

“ Very well. But — ” 

“ And in the next place I want you to bring 
me up one or two things I want for myself in 
here. Go to the housekeeper, and ask her to 
give you them direct from the store-room ; be 
particular about that, and bring them straight to 
me. ril give you a list.” 

Jarman would have made objections to the 
novelty of this procedure, but Valetta was head- 
strong, and would not listen to reason. Unless 
she had her own way in every respect, she said, 
she would have nothing to do with the case. So 
old Jarman, though much puzzled and rather dis- 
turbed by these novel methods, eventually sank 
into placid obedience, and did the bidding of the 
Dresden shepherdess implicitly. 

She presently suggested, however, that Valetta 
should go downstairs and give Michael the inter- 
view he wanted. Valetta, after considering for a 
moment, shook her head. 

“ I think,” she said, slowly, I had better 
give all my thoughts to Miss Farebrother. Just 
tell Mr. Michael, please, that Fm glad he’s get- 
ing on all right, and that I hope he’ll keep as 
quiet as he can.” 

It was some few hours later than this that Dr. 
Skates tapped softly at the door of Miss Fare- 
brother’s room. Valetta went swiftly, but silently. 


^4^ A Desperate Game 

to the door, unlocked it, and went out into the 
corridor, shutting the door behind her, and wear- 
ing a very grave face. 

‘‘ How is our dear friend going on ? asked 
the Doctor anxiously. 

Valetta looked up with a piteous expression. 

“ She is very far from well. Doctor, Tm sorry 
to say,” she said, sorrowfully. 

“ She*s not had any more of those attacks, I 
trust ? ” pursued the Doctor. 

“ Only after what we give her to eat and drink. 
Doctor. But then she has pain and sickness. 
Don’t you think it would be wiser, in the circum- 
stances, to send for a doctor ? ” 

Dr. Skates affected to consider. 

If she were not in the best possible hands, 
my dear Miss Bell,” he said, I should agree 
with you that it would be better even to disre- 
gard her own injunctions, and to send for one. 
But as it is, unless she herself 'insists that one 
should be sent for ” 

‘‘ No, she doesn’t do that. She hasn’t asked 
for a doctor once,’' said Valetta. 

‘‘ Then, in that case,” said the Doctor decidedly, 
‘‘ I think we can hardly take upon ourselves to 
disregard her wishes.” 

Very well, I suppose you know best,” said 
Valetta submissively. ‘‘ But you’re putting a very 
great responsibility on me. You see now I am 
in sole charge, and everything she takes -passes 
through my hands. Don’t you see, therefore, 
how dreadful it would be if — if anything went 
wrong ? ” 


A Desperate Game 249 

The Doctor nodded his head two or three times 
reassuringly. 

‘‘ You’re a brave girl, and you’re doing your 
best. We all know that, and we should all stand 
by you, whatever happened. We are in the hands 
of Providence. I can say no more.” 

He went away, and Valetta, with a brighter 
face, turned back into the bedroom, and re-locked 
the door. It was evident that Dr. Skates was 
wholly satisfied with her efficiency in the care of 
the invalid, for he did not allow his wife to return 
to the sick-room. 

Every few hours, however, he came himself to 
the door, and although Valetta had only the same 
melancholy news to give him regarding Miss Fare- 
brother’s condition, he still trusted her so com- 
pletely that, to each suggestion she made that a 
doctor should be sent for, he gave the same reply 
that he thought they had better respect the in- 
valid’s wishes. 

In the meantime, however, these disquieting re- 
ports from the sick-room reached the ears of Gas- 
pard, and through him of Michael ; but to all the 
messages of the young men requesting to see 
Valetta for a few moments she sent the reply that 
she could not leave Miss Farebrother in the con- 
dition she was in, but that the best that was pos- 
sible was being done for her. 

The brothers, in spite of the objections of the 
nurse in charge of Michael, had a consultation 
that night. 

That girl’s a fool after all,” said Gaspard, 
irritably. Fancy her playing into the hands of 


^5° A Desperate Game 

old Skates like this, by agreeing not to let Pres- 
ton see her ! It seems to me, from what one 
hears, that our aunt’s dying. Now, what will be 
said of us all if she does die, without a qualified 
medical man having seen her ? ” 

Michael did not take quite the same view. 

“ Dr. Preston told me this morning,” said he, 
“ that it was possible, if my aunt had resolutely set 
her face against seeing him, that a visit from him 
would only make her worse. Besides, I don’t 
agree with you that Miss Bell’s a fool. I thinlo 
she’s a very clever girl, and as good as she’s 
pretty. If she thought it would save my aunt’s 
life, I am certain she would be the first to insist 
on a doctor’s coming. But if, as I begin to fear, 
she sees that our aunt’s dying, she may think, as 
Dr. Preston himself did, that to excite and worry 
her at such a time would be only cruelty.” 

“Very well,” said Gaspard, dismally. “She 
will probably be dead to-morrow, and Dr. Skates 
will be a rich man, and you and I willbe paupers.” 
Michael looked thoughtful. At last he said : — 
“ I tell you what, Gaspard ; you shall go up 
to Scotland Yard to-morrow, and just ask whether 
they’ve had any news from the man they sent 
down here. I’ll manage to scribble a line to ex- 
plain why you come instead of me, and perhaps 
you’ll learn something.” 

Gaspard was very reluctant to take this active 
step, and wholly unhopeful as to its having any 
good result He said they had been outwitted 
from the very beginning by the Doctor, and they 
would be outwitted to the end. As, however, 


251 


A Desperate Game 

Michael persisted, and it was unwise to thwart 
him, the elder brother at length consented to take 
the place of the younger, and started for London 
the next morning, after having received from Va- 
letta such a bulletin as made him certain that 
Miss Farebrother would be dead before he could 
return to the Abbey. To the suggestion, how- 
ever, that his aunt should see him for a few 
minutes, the young companion refused to listen. 

‘‘ She is very ill, and I’ve taken the sole re- 
sponsibility of nursing her upon myself, and she 
can’t see anybody,” was Valetta’s parrot cry. 

SOj unsatisfied, and in the lowest possible 
spirits, Gaspard went up to Scotland Yard, where 
he was received by the official who had seen his 
brother, and noticed in his manner a marked 
coldness. 

Yes, news had been received from Watkin, the 
officer in charge of the case, and this news, as far 
as it went, was entirely satisfactory. 

‘‘You mean,” asked Gaspard, rather puzzled 
by the coolness with which he was treated, “ that 
you have identified this Dr. Skates as a man 
named Anderson.” 

The official looked at him narrowly, and after 
a moment’s pause, said : — 

“ I am really not in a position to say more at 
present, sir. We have heard from Watkin, but 
not yet fully, and we are to hear again. After 
that we will communicate with you and your 
brother.” 

Gaspard understood that the short interview 
was at an end^ and he got up to go, a good deal 


252 


A Desperate Game 

nettled by his reception. At the door, however, 
he turned to say : — 

By the by, can you tell me if you have ever 
had any dealings with a man named Anderson ? 
Was he a criminal ? ’’ 

“ There was a man named James Anderson who 
was strongly suspected of a crime committed near 
Bournemouth some time ago,” said the official. 
“ But it could not be brought home to him.” 

“ May I ask what the crime was ? ” asked 
Gaspard. 

“Well, it was poisoning.” Gaspard started. 
“ He was suspected of having administered col- 
chicum to an old lady, after having induced her 
to make a will in his favor.” 

Gaspard gave a great shout. 

“ Good heavens ! ” he cried. “ Then he’s at 
the same game again. He’s poisoning my aunt ! ” 


CHAPTER XXI 

When Gaspard reached St. Mary’s-on-Sea that 
afternoon, on his return from town, he almost ran 
into the arms of Madeline Chalmers, who was at 
the bookstall buying a magazine for the Vicar. 

She was shocked and amazed by the extreme 
pallor of his face and the wild look in his eyes. 

“ What has happened ? Is your brother worse ? 
Or Miss Farebrother ? ” asked she quickly. 

Gaspard could scarcely speak. 

“ Will you go back to the Abbey with me ? ” 
implored he, after a moment’s pause. “ There’s 


A Desperate Game ^53 

no time to be lost. It may be a question of life 
and death for my aunt ! ” 

What ? ’’ 

“ That rascally Skates is trying to murder her, 
and has probably succeeded by this time,” gasped 
the young man, as Madeline, at once agreeing to 
his suggestion, kept pace with his rapid steps. 

Unluckily, he’s been artful enough to gain over 

my aunt’s companion to his own views ” 

Miss Bell ! Oh, no, it’s not possible ! ” 

Of course, she doesn’t know what he’s doing,” 
went on Gaspard quickly. I didn’t myself till 
a couple of hours ago. It seems this scoundrel 
has been at this game before, tried to poison an 
old lady at Bournemouth ” 

“ Oh, are you sure ? Are you sure ? ” 

Yes ; I’ve just come from Scotland Yard. 
There, for some reason I can’t understand, they 
made rather light of what I told them.” 

‘‘ Perhaps,” suggested Madeline, “ he’s fore- 
stalled you with them, as he did with Mr. Buckle.” 

The suggestion was so startling, and, by the 
light of what he knew of Skates, so probable, that 
Gaspard stopped short to exclaim below his 
breath : By Jove ! ” 

Then he hurried on again, clenching his fists 
and his teeth in impotent rage. 

Oh, don’t despair,” urged Madeline timidly, 
for indeed she could not feel very hopeful in face 
of the mountain of fraud and intrigue which rose 
up before them. “ Everything may come right, 
after all. Don’t you think there must be a limit 
even to the audacity of these people, and that ” 


^54 A Desperate Game 

It won’t be reached till they’ve murdered my 
aunt, and perhaps Michael too,” said Gaspard. 
“ Skates hates him more than he does me, because 
he’s got more spirit than I have, and more, pluck, 
and because he’s taken more active measures than 
I have.” 

‘‘ But his active measures haven’t been any more 
successful than your passive ones.” 

“ He hates him for it, though, and he’ll never 
rest till he’s had his revenge upon the poor lad. 
I gave particular directions to the nurses that they 
were not to leave him alone on any pretence.” 

“ And what is it you want me to do ? ” asked 
Madeline, who was panting from the pace at which 
they were walking. 

“ I want you to persuade Miss Bell to send for 
a doctor at once.” 

“ But surely you’re the person to do that ! ” 

“ I’ve tried. I sent Dr. Preston to her yester- 
day, and my aunt wouldn’t see him. But this 
girl has influence with her, and if she chose, she 
could have a doctor in, and persuade my aunt to 
see him. That’s what I want you to do.” 

Madeline agreed at once, though with many 
misgivings as to her powers of persuasion. The 
fact was that the situation at the Abbey had by 
this time grown so serious that it had caused a 
general feeling of consternation among those of the 
neighbors who knew anything about it. The 
boldly-made accusations of Miss Farebrother’s two 
nephews against the popular Dr. Skates and his 
wife, followed by the rather mysterious accident 
to Michael, and now by the reports of the danger- 


255 


A Desperate Game 

ous illness of Miss Farebrother herself, had in- 
creased this feeling to something like panic ; and 
nothing was now talked of by the neighbors but 
the course of affairs at the big house. 

There were two sides taken in the matter, of 
course ; and Dr. Skates, with his genial manners, 
had made so much better a general impression 
than the two now somewhat reserved and low- 
spirited young men that, on the whole, there were 
more' sympathizers with him than with them 
among their acquaintances. 

Madeline knew this, and the knowledge that 
these unlucky friends of her childhood were 
threatened with absolute ruin, without the power 
to make an attempt to escape it, filled her with 
so much distress that by the time she and Gas- 
pard stood under the glass shelter which led from 
the gate to the house-door, the tears were gather- 
ing in her eyes. It was light enough still for 
Gaspard to see this as he turned to speak again 
to her. The sight made his own eyes moist, as 
he held out his hand to her. 

“ Thank you,'' said he, in a husky voice. It 
does one good to know that there's a kind feel- 
ing for one anywhere, and especially " 

‘‘ Don't," whispered she back. Don't, oh, 
don't ! I'll do whatever I can, and if it's of no 

use, at any rate. I'll — I’ll " 

Her lips moved, but her voice had gone. But 
she gave him such a look, so full of tender sym- 
pathy and goodness, that he caught her in his 
arms, and kissed her passionately on the lips. 
Then, both very white, and tremulous, and 


^5^ A Desperate Game 

slightly indistinct as to speech in the passionate 
anxiety and excitement which possessed them, 
they were admitted by the man-servant, who told 
them, in answer to his questions, that there was 
no change to report in Miss Farebrother’s con- 
dition. She was very ill, and had seen nobody 
but Jarman and Miss Bell, who would allow no 
one else to enter the sick-room. 

“ I’ll go upstairs, and ask if she’ll see you,” 
whispered Gaspard to Madeline, who thereupon 
followed the servant to the drawing-room, while 
Gaspard went up to interview the inexorable com- 
panion. . 

“Where is she?” asked Valetta, who was be- 
ginning to look very wan, as a result of her long 

“In the drawing-room, with the Skateses.” 

“Then I’ll go down to her,” said Valetta, as 
she turned back to give some instructions to Jar- 
man before leaving the room. 

She went downstairs with him without saying 
another word, and only answered by a shake of 
the head the question he put as to his aunt’s con- 
dition. 

When she entered the drawing-room, however, 
the firmness, of her look and carriage for a mo- 
ment left her, and she staggered slightly as she 
advanced into the big square room, which looked 
strangely unlike itself now that Miss Farebrother, 
in her favorite low armchair, no longer occupied 
her usual corner by the fire. 

Mrs. Skates now sat there, wrapped in a shawl 


257 


A Desperate Game 

and shivering, though the May afternoon was by 
no means particularly cold. 

The Doctor stood on the hearthrug, his feet 
planted wide apart, his face as ruddy as ever, but 
his features composed to a look of respectful 
sympathy with the distress in which the household 
was plunged. 

He at once prepared a chair for Valetta, who 
sank into it quickly, saying, “ Thank you,’' in 
an altnost inaudible voice. 

For some reason, she seemed at first scarcely 
able to look up, and when Madeline held out her 
hand she took it in a hurried, nervous way, while 
the blood suddenly rushed to her cheeks. 

You look overwrought, my dear young lady,” 
said the Doctor, kindly. Let me give you a 
cup of tea.” 

He prepared it with his own hands, but Valetta 
would not drink it. She had had her tea up stairs, 
she said. Madeline had taken the chair by her 
side, but felt rather nervous about addressing her, 
so plain was it to all eyes that the slight, girlish- 
looking creature had been suffering from a severe 
strain. 

The questions had to come at last, however, 
and it was the Doctor who asked the first : 

“ And how did you leave our dear invalid. 
Miss Bell ? ” he asked, in his deep-toned, genial 
voice, just the voice to express sympathy in the 
most eloquent possible way. 

‘‘Just the same — as she’s been all day to-day 
— and yesterday, too,” answered Valetta, her 

17 


25^ A Desperate Game 

voice gaining a little in strength and firmness as 
she went on. 

“No worse, eh ? '' 

There was a pause. 

Then Valetta said, very clearly : “ I shouldn*t 
like to say that she’s no worse.” 

Another pause, broken only by the Doctor’s 
muttered : “ Dear, dear ! ” 

Then he said, aloud : “You don’t think she’s 
sinking, do you ? ” 

“1 really couldn’t say even that,” said Va- 
letta. 

There was a low hush of consternation. Mrs. 
Skates began to move restlessly in her chair. 

“Won’t she take nourishment?” asked the 
Doctor. 

“ She takes what I give her,” said Valetta. 

And as she uttered these words every one could 
see that the girl grew red and white. 

“ And yet she gets no better ? ” 

“No better,” said Valetta. “It seems as if 
there were something to irritate and make her ill 
in everything given her to eat or drink.” 

Gaspard and Madeline uttered each an exclama- 
tion. 

Then Madeline spoke, shyly, but earnestly : — 

“ But isn’t it very alarming when she gets as 
weak as that ? ” 

“ Very. 1 am much alarmed,” said Valetta, 
and as she spoke her voice trembled. 

Mrs. Skates said not a word but watched her 
very intently throughout the whole of the conver- 
sation. 


259 


A Desperate Game 

Surely/* suggested Madeline, meekly, it 
would be better to let her see a doctor, wouldn*t 
it ? ’* 

Is she,** asked the Doctor, anxiously, “ in 
such a state that a doctor could do her no good ? ** 

“ I’m sure of it,** said Valetta, with sudden 
boldness. 

There was a short silence of utter consternation 
real or affected, on the part of all but Mrs. Skates, 
who still sat regarding the companion with a fixed, 
curious, and entirely inimical stare. 

Madeline stood up. 

I hope you won’t think it impertinent of me 
to say so,” she said, “ but I do think you ought 
to send for Dr. Preston, and see if he couldn’t 
give her something to stop these dreadful symp- 
toms.” 

I think so, too,” said Valetta, simply. 

You don’t think,” said Dr. Skates gravely, 
‘‘ that she would be in a fit state to know who he 
was, and, therefore, you feel sure that it would 
no longer disturb her to find her wishes disre- 
garded.” 

“ I’ll take the responsibility of that,” said Va- 
letta as gravely as he. 

Mrs. Skates sat upright. 

‘‘ I call it wicked,” she said, vehemently, “ to 
disregard the express wishes of a dying woman ! ” 

“ Dying ! ” cried Madeline and Gaspard at 
the same moment. 

“ Didn’t you say. Miss Bell, that you be- 
lieved she was dying ? ” said Mrs. Skates as em- 
phatically as before. 


26 o 


A Desperate Game 

“ I shouldn’t like to say that,” answered Va- 
letta, in a low and tremulous voice. 

Then the Doctor spojce, interposing between 
the two ladies with one of his gracious waves of 
the hand that seemed to settle things. 

‘‘ I think/' said he, since Miss Bell takes 
upon herself the responsibility of calling him in, 
that we can do nothing but assist her in the 
matter.” 

Thank you,” said Valetta. 

“ I really can't see that it would be of any use,” 
protested Mrs. Skates again. 

The Doctor turned to her sharply. 

‘‘ My dear Blanche,” said he, “we have no 
voice in the matter, none whatever. Miss Bell, 
who has taken upon herself the nursing of our 
dear friend, must know best what to do. Though, 
if the sickness has gone on all this time, two whole 
days,” and he turned again with a solemn face to 
Valetta, “ I'm afraid there is very little hope. 
You are sure,” he went on impressively, while the 
eyes of all in the room rested intently on his face, 
so solemn was he, “ that she cannot possibly have 
got anything to eat or to drink which had not 
passed through your hands ? ” 

“ Absolutely sure,” said Valetta. 

“ And, of course, every care was taken in the 
preparation of everything that was given her ? ” 

“ Every care,” answered Valetta, earnestly. 
“ More than that, I can answer for it that nothing 
that was not absolutely wholesome and good has 
passed her lips.” 

“No possibility, of course, of anybody having 


A Desperate Game 

tampered with anything ? ” asked Gaspard, sud- 
denly. 

The question caused a certain uneasiness in two 
of the ladies present. But Valetta turned to him 
at once, now as self-possessed as at the beginning 
of the conversation she had been timid, and an- 
swered, — ^ 

“ There was absolutely no fear of that. I’ll 
answer for it.” 

The Doctor nodded his head, perfectly satis- 
fied. But still Mrs. Skates kept her eyes fixed, 
suspiciously, upon the young girl’s face. 

Then,” said Dr. Skates, ‘‘ since you can an- 
swer for so much, you are the person, -Miss Bell, 
to decide whether the doctor is to come. So 
much is absolutely clear.” 

“ Yes,” said Valetta. And at once she said to 
Gaspard : “ If you will ask Dr. Preston to come. 
I’ll persuade Miss Farebrother, if any persuasion 
is necessary, to see him.” 

Gaspard went quickly to the door. At the 
same time Madeline rose. As she shook hands 
with Valetta, she noticed how very cold the girl’s 
hands were. She would not shake hands with 
either of the Skateses, but gave a hurried bow to 
them as Valetta rose and accompanied her to the 
door. 

‘‘ How cold you are ! ” cried she, as they 
reached the passage outside, on the way to the 
hall. 

Yes,” replied Valetta, with a shiver, ‘^when- 
ever my head gets hot, my hands and feet get 
quite cold. It’s an anxious time, you know.” 


iSi 


A Desperate Game 

The two girls looked in each other’s face, and 
their hearts went out in instinctive sympathy. 
Then Madeline asked : 

“ And Michael, how is he ? ” 

A look of pain contracted the pretty features 
of the young companion. 

‘‘ They tell me he’s going on all right,” she 
said; “but I haven’t dared to see him. I think, 
if I did,” she went on, quickly, “ I should break 
down altogether ; and I can’t afford the time to 
break down just now.” 

Madeline put out her hand to her again. 

“ That’s right, that’s right,” she whispered. 
“You are brave, you are splendid. I’ve the 
greatest hopes that you’ll do something for those 
poor boys yet.” 

But Valetta only put her finger on her lip, and 
said : 

“ Good-by, Miss Chalmers. Give my kind 
regards to the Vicar, won’t you, and to Mrs. 
Chalmers ? ” 

And then Madeline went away, and Valetta 
ran up-stairs. 

Gaspard soon came back, but he had been un- 
lucky. The doctor was out, so that he could 
only leave a message asking him to come round 
to the Abbey as soon as he could. In the mean- 
time the young man hastened to see his brother, 
who was anxiously awaiting his return. 

Michael at once agreed that Madeline had hit 
the right nail on the head in supposing that Skates 
had been communicating with Scotland Yard. 
But here Gaspard saw a difficulty. 


A Desperate Game 263 

“ How about the detective down here ? said 
he. ‘‘ You heard him call out ^ Anderson ! ’so 
there can be no doubt he recognized him. Surely 
he would have sent such a piece of news to head- 
quarters at once ! ” 

This did seem the most likely thing to have 
happened, and Michael was puzzled how to ac- 
count for the ignorance on this point shown by 
the official they had both seen. 

“ One thing is certain,” said he, and that is 
that you must find out what has become of Wat- 
kin, the detective who was sent down here. In- 
quire among the servants as to the time and place 
where he was last seen, and then find out, if you 
can, where he meant to pass the night. I sup- 
pose he had taken some lodging. If the servants 
don’t know it, make inquiries in the village.” 

All right,” said Gaspard. It’ll do in the 
morning, won’t it ? ” 

‘‘ No,” answered Michael, quickly, “ you must 
see about it now. I want to see the man to-night, 
at once.” 

So Gaspard went to the servants’ hall, and made 
diligent inquiries, according to his brother’s instruc- 
t ois. But all in vain. Nobody knew where 
the odd man had meant to stay, nor why he had 
thrown up his work, without, as it turned out, even 
applying for his pay for what he had done on the 
first day. 

“ I think, sir, if I may make so bold,” said one 
of the gardeners, coming forward to address Gas- 
pard, ‘‘ as there was something a bit wrong with 
that chap. He was all for prying, it seemed to 


2^4 A Desperate Game 

me. I took it into my head he was more interest- 
ed in the dancing of the little ladies and gentle- 
men in the drawing-room than hard on his work. 
Why, he was polishing the windows up to past 
nine o'clock at night, and as I said to him, it was 
more from curiosity than love of his work that was." 

‘‘ And what did he say to that ? " asked Gas- 
pard. 

‘‘ Why, sir, he said — and he winked at me as 
he said it — as he liked to see the fun, and didn’t 
mean to give up polishing the winders not as long 
as the dancing went on, sir ! ’’ 

‘‘ Oh," said Gaspard, then he must have been 
about pretty late ? " 

“ Ay, that he was, sir. Why, he was there, as 
I say, up to nine." 

“ And when and where did you see him last ? 

“ It was just before nine, sir, while the magic 
lantern show was goin’ on, that I see him last. 
He was hangin’ about the hall where the enter- 
tainment was goin’ on." 

And then you lost sight of him ? ’’ 

‘‘Yes, sir. I saw nothing of him after that." 

“Did any of you see him later than that?" 
asked Gaspard, now no longer hiding the fact that 
he considered these inquiries of deep moment. 

There was a silence. Then followed a slight 
whispering in the ranks of the younger servants, 
and a girl of about sixteen was pushed forward by 
her companions, protesting shyly, and trying to 
escape observation. 

“ Ir you please, sir, Susan heard something," 
said one of others. 


A Desperate Game ^65 

Well,” said Gaspard kindly to the girl, who 
was crimson and inclined to be tearful. And 
what was it you heard ? Don’t be afraid of speak- 
ing out.” 

‘‘ It was nothing, sir ” 

Oh, Susan, you said you heard a noise and 
saw two men who seemed to be fighting,” said 
the older woman. 

It needed a great deal of persuasion to get the 
poor frightened girl to tell what she had heard, 
and then it seemed at first as if it did not amount 
to much. 

She had gone up to the second floor on the 
night of the party, and had heard a noise which 
she described as a “ sort of cry,” and looking out 
of the window she had dimly seen under the trees, 
something going on which she thought to be a 
scuffle between two men. 

Almost as soon as she got to the window, how- 
ever, the disturbance was over, and she saw noth- 
ing more, and heard nothing for some minutes, 
when a sound like the beating of hands upon wood 
wasr followed by the soft opening and shutting of 
a door, which she thought must be that which led 
into the house, under the back staircase. 

“ Did you tell any one what you had seen and 
heard ? ” asked Gaspard kindly. 

“ No, sir, not then.” 

“ Why didn’t you ? ” 

After a little hesitating and stammering the girl 
was understood to say she did not think anything 
of it until she heard next day of the accident to 
Mr. Michael. Then she did tell a fellow-servant, 


266 


A Desperate Game 

who spoke to one of the gardeners, who advised 
her not to chatter about it. 

Gaspard tried in vain to discover from the girl 
at what time it was that she heard the noise 
and saw the scuffle going on. She either would 
not or could not fix the hour within practicable 
limits. The surprising fact remained that it 
had evidently taken place before the household 
retired to rest, if the girl’s account was to be 
trusted. 

Gaspard’s next move was to go to the cottage 
of the head gardener at the other end of the 
grounds, and to ask if he knew anything. 

All he could say was that he had missed a 
spade from the tool-house and that he had been 
amazed to find the long hole in the ground into 
which Mr. Michael had fallen. He had no idea 
who could have made it, nor for what purpose, 
and all the inquiries he had made among the men 
under him had failed to elicit any satisfactory 
response. 

As for the ‘‘ odd man,” who had disappeared 
so quickly, the gardener was inclined to believe 
that he had stolen the spade, and got away with 
it, and perhaps with other things that had not 
yet been missed. And the gardener was evidently 
not sorry to make this suggestion, as Miss Fare- 
brother’s encouragement of casual helpers was 
highly distasteful to the servants in regular em- 
ployment at the Abbey. 

‘‘ I should like you,” said Gaspard, when he 
had listened attentively to all the man had to say, 
“ to make a careful inspection of the grounds with 


A Desperate Game 267 

me now, to see if we can find any trace of this 
man.” 

The gardener looked surprised. 

“ What trace of him could we find, sir ? ” he 
asked with a touch of surliness. 

‘‘If,” pursued Gaspard, stubbornly, “the hole 
was made, as you all seem inclined to think, by 
this stranger with the intention of hiding stolen 
things in it, and if he was frightened away by my 
brother's coming out to see what was going on, 
we shall surely be able to find, somewhere about, 
some articles which he had stolen and prepared 
to hide.” 

“ Of course. I'll come with you if you like, 
sir,” said the man, unwillingly enough. 

The fact was that the notion which had seized 
Valetta, when she saw the hole by daylight, that it 
was like a grave, had entered the heads of all the 
servants about the place also, and had filled them 
with a sort of superstitious terror, under the in- 
fluence of which some were even inclined to think 
that it had been dug by supernatural hands, and 
that it betokened an early death in the house- 
hold. 

This idea having been strengthened by the 
severe accident to Michael, and the dangerous 
illness of his aunt, the spot where the hole had 
been dug was carefully avoided by everyone, 
when it had been hastily filled in by the order of 
Gaspard. 

Now, therefore, that the head-gardener found 
himself compelled to go, in the uncertain and dim 
twilight of a May evening, on a search expedition 


268 


A Desperate Game 

in the neighborhood of the uncanny spot, even 
his robust, middle-aged common sense was hardly 
proof against a sensation akin to that of a sudden 
douche of cold water down the spine. 

He took his lantern with him, although it was 
not yet dark, and he and the young master walked 
very silently, looking about them on both sides, 
until they came within a few yards of the stack of 
underwood. 

Then Gaspard said suddenly : 

“It was here that the man was working that 
day, wasn’t it 

“ In the afternoon, sir, yes.” 

“ And it was near here the hole was made ? ” 

“ Ye-es.” 

The man answered in a thick whisper, and 
Gaspard turned to him. 

“ What’s the matter, Miller ? ” 

But the gardener did not answer. Holding his 
lantern a little way up, he was staring with all his 
eyes at the ground close to the woodstack. Gas- 
pard’s eyes followed his, without another word 
being spoken by either of them. 

Twilight was falling fast under the big trees, 
and an eerie dimness lay over the ground and in 
the dark spaces between hedge and brush, shrub 
and tree-trunk. The evening mist struck chill 
and damp, but it was not with cold that both men 
shivered, as they looked before them, staring 
intently, fixed and motionless, and without ex- 
changing so much as a word or a glance. 

Yet it was their own fancy rather than anything 
more certain which held them in the grip of a 


A Desperate Game 269 

deadly terror. For what was it they saw ? Some- 
thing dark, indistinct, shapeless, half-hidden 
under a pile of brushwood, guessed at rather 
than clearly seen. 

‘‘ What’s that. Miller, under — under — There 
— there ? ” 

His words died away, and the gardener went 
forward without answering him. 

He pulled the uppermost twigs down, and 
stopped. 

Then he turned to the young master, with an 
awestruck face. 

“ Ay, sir, that’s — that’s him, sure enough ! ” 
whispered he. 

After one short pause, during which they 
scarcely dared to look at each other, they tore the 
heaped-up wood away, and pulled the pile to 
pieces, exposing at last, as they expected, as they 
knew, the huddled-up body of the missing man. 

They looked at him, and then again at each 
other. 

“ Murdered, sir,” said the gardener, huskily. 
“ Look at his head.” 

By the dim light of the lantern they saw a 
piteous sight. The head of the unfortunate man 
had been battered in, one side smashed, beaten to 
an indescribable, sickening horror. There, where 
he lay, a huddled heap, the horrible injuries had 
apparently been inflicted, and the murderer had 
covered the body with wood from the pile, delib- 
erately, cleverly, so that the heap which lay on 
the dead man seemed but such part of the stack 
as had been prepared for immediate use. 


^70 A Desperate Game 

“ The police ! whispered Gaspard, “ we must 
send for them.” 

He would have kept the awful news from the 
household for a little, if he had been able to do 
so. But even before he reached the house, a 
whisper from the gardener, on his way to the 
police-station, had spread like lightning from lip 
to lip, so that when the young man entered the 
hall, he found himself at once confronted, not 
only by Dr. and Mrs. Skates, but by Valetta, 
who, standing on the bottom stair, with her hand 
upon the banisters, awaited his return in a state of 
the strongest excitement. 

“ What’s this ? What’s this story of a man 
found dead in the grounds, Mr. Gaspard ? Not 
true, I hope ? ” said the Doctor, earnestly. 

Gaspard nodded sullenly, without raising his 
eyes. 

“ Who is it ? ” 

‘‘ Is it some one who’s known ? ” pursued Dr. 
Skates, seizing his arm, and insisting upon detain- 
ing the young man, who was shaking with sick 
terror. 

“ It’s a man who was at work here two days 
ago, sir,” explained a man-servant, who had en- 
tered the hall with the dreadful news. 

The Doctor staggered back. 

Good Heavens ? ” cried he. “ And when 
was he missed ? ” 

‘‘ He’s been missing since the night before last, 
sir.” 

“ The night before last. Dear me ! Why, that 
was the very night — ” The Doctor affected to 


A Desperate Game 271 

'pull himself up short, and turned quickly to Gas- 
pard to say in a low voice : ‘‘ You’ve done what 
you can to keep this quiet, of course ? ” 

Gaspard looked up at him with a somber fire 
in his eyes. 

Keep it quiet ! ” he echoed, slowly. Of 
course I’ve not. I’ve sent for the police already.” 
The Doctor started in ostentatious horror. 

Why, man alive ! ” cried he, forgetting to 
lower his voice in his amazement and consterna- 
tion, ‘‘ you’re putting the rope round the neck of 
your own brother ! ” 

Gaspard drew a long breath. 

Liar ! ” cried he, as he flew at the Doctor like 
an enraged lion. 


CHAPTER XXII 

Before Gaspard could touch the Doctor, how- 
ever, and while Mrs. Skates was screaming and 
rushing madly at the two, a tiny figure, springing 
from they knew not where, suddenly stood be- 
tween the two men, and Valetta, with a gesture 
astonishingly imperious for one so small, cried, 
not loudly, but in the tones of one who meant to 
be heard : 

‘‘ Mr. Gaspard, listen to me.” 

He staggered, fell back a step. And Dr. 
Skates, who wore an air of perfect coolness, tried 
to disengage himself from the clinging arms of his 
wife. 


272 A Desperate Game 

Mrs. Skates, however, was apparently irritated 
by the appearance of the woman she disliked, and 
she was beginning to utter vague protests against 
her interference, when Valetta herself turned to 
her, and said : 

‘‘ Mrs. Skates, you had better listen also. Fve 
come from Dr. Preston.*' 

The name caused a dead silence to follow im- 
mediately. The Skateses knew that the doctor 
had arrived, and that he had seen his patient, and 
they waited impatiently for his verdict upon her 
case. 

‘‘ He is with Miss Farebrother now,’* Valetta 
went on, in a very grave tone of voice, “ but, as I 
knew how anxious you all are to know what he 
thinks, I asked him if he would come down to the 
drawing-room before leaving, so that we may all 
hear what he has to say.** 

“ Very kind, very thoughtful of you. Miss 
Bell,** said the Doctor, heartily. ‘^We all ap- 
preciate your kindness very much.** 

All but Mrs. Skates, perhaps. That lady 
now took no pains to disguise the ill-will she felt 
towards Miss Farebrother’s companion, who had 
forestalled her in the office of sick-nurse, and who 
appeared besides to have inspired her with a 
hatred which could hardly be accounted for by 
that fact. 

Gaspard, shaken already by the awful discovery 
he had made, as well as by the Doctor’s accusa- 
tion of Michael, scarcely seemed to understand 
the purport of Valetta’s words. When Dr. 
Skates and his wife retreated to the drawing- 


^73 


A Desperate Game 

room, there to await the medical man, Gaspard 
stood still, with a white, wan face and dull eyes, 
as if he had lost the power of movement, and 
even that of thought. 

All at once he felt a light touch on his arm. 

“ Come,’' said Valetta softly, come too.” 

But he shook his head. 

I can’t, I can’t come,” said he hoarsely, “and 
face that man, that scoundrel, after what he said ! 
Did you hear him ? He dared ” 

“ You had better come, for all that,” said she, 
“and listen and watch quietly. Things have 
come to a crisis now, you know, and you must — 
may I say it ? — must ” (she whispered the next 
words) “ keep your head.” 

Gaspard gave her a wan smile. 

“ It’s about all I shall have left to keep within 
an hour or so, I think,” said he. 

“ Well, you must bear up, for your poor 
brother’s sake.” 

And "the girl’s voice shook a little on the words. 
Gaspard looked down at her quickly. 

“ You’re right,” said he. “ When he’s threat- 
ened with such a danger as that which that scoun- 
drel holds over his head, we who love him have 
need of all our courage.” 

“ And of all our craft,” said she with a sagacious 
nod. “Now I won’t ask you to go into the 
drawing-room to stay with the Skateses alone. 
But stay here till Dr. Preston comes down, and 
then go in with him. I can’t come yet, because 
I have to fetch something to show the doctor.” 

“ Have you seen him yet ? ” asked Gaspard. 

18 


^74 A Desperate Game 

“Not yet,” said Valetta. “But I shall come 
into the drawing-room in time to hear what he's 
got to say.” 

Then she ran away, without giving him time 
to say anything more. 

He waited in the hall, according to her sug- 
gestion, for there was an air of quiet authority 
about the little woman which impressed him with 
a sense that she had good reasons for her actions 
in the matter. When Dr. Preston came down a 
few minutes later, Gaspard noticed a gravity in 
his manner which portended, he thought, bad 
news. He was, however, too much dazed, and 
too ready to take the worst for granted, to ask 
him any questions, but just followed him and Val- 
etta to the drawing-room, noting as he went that 
the girl was very white, and that she was trem- 
bling very much. 

When they had all reached the drawing-room, 
and Gaspard had carefully shut the door, both 
Dr. Skates and his wife came up to the medical 
man with every appearance of intense anxiety. 

Dr. Preston was cold, curt, and barely civil. 
He was not a polished man at any time, but to- 
night his manner was particularly brusque, and 
his words dropped from his lips with a peculiar 
dry emphasis which they all felt to be significant 
of some weighty matter on his mind. 

When the first greetings were over, and he 
made them particularly short, there was a pause 
which was broken by Dr. Skates, who asked, in 
a voice of solemn gravity : 

“ Put us out of our suspense, doctor. Re- 


A Desperate Game 275 

member all we feel for the dear lady upstairs. 
Must we — must we — prepare for the worst? ” 

‘‘Not at all, sir, not at all,'’ said Dr. Preston, 
fixing him with a pair of steely eyes. “ I have 
every hope that Miss Farebrother will be down- 
stairs to-morrow and in her usual excellent health.” 

A sort of thrill of astonishment seemed to run 
through his hearers. Only Valetta Bell, stand- 
ing with her hands firmly clasped a little way from 
the doctor, never looked up or moved a muscle. 
Perhaps an acute observer might have thought 
that Dr. Skates and Mrs. Skates were appalled 
rather than delighted at the news. Only for a 
moment, however. After a second’s pause the 
genial Doctor, seizing the perhaps somewhat 
unwilling hand of Miss Farebrother’s medical 
adviser, cried in ecstatic accents : 

“ Thank Heaven for that ! Oh Blanche, my 
dear Blanche, what a weight off our hearts ! ” 
And he turned to his wife, who, instead of echo- 
ing his words and his grateful sentiments, was 
staring steadily at Valetta with wild eyes. 

Dr. Preston disengaged his hand as soon as he 
could, and said : 

“ It’s very unfortunate that I was not sent for 
in the first place, however, as, by what I under- 
stand from her maid, there were symptoms in the 
attack she had yesterday morning, which demand- 
ed careful, most careful inquiry.” 

“ Indeed, Dr. Preston ! To what did these 
symptoms point ? Not to paralysis, or anything 
of that kind, I hope ? ” 


276 A Desperate Game 

It was again Dr. Skates who spoke. Dr. Pres- 
ton turned to him. 

‘‘ Oh, no, not to paralysis. They pointed to 
poisoning ! ” 

“ Poisoning ! Surely not ! She has been most 
carefully nursed. Miss Bell, who has under- 
taken the sole responsibility of the case from first 
to last, will answer to you for that.'’ 

Valetta, her face still very pale, but her manner 
perfectly calm, raised her head. 

Not quite from first to last. Dr. Skates,” she 
said, in a measured tone. You will remember 
that it was after the attack yesterday morning 
that I took Mrs. Skates's place with Miss. Fare- 
brother.'' 

‘‘ What does the woman mean by accusing 
me ? '' cried Mrs. Skates, rising suddenly and 
speaking with shrill, hysterical violence. 

‘‘ I don't accuse you of anything,'' said Valetta, 
in the same even tone as before. ‘‘ But Dr. 
Skates and Jarman and Mr. Gaspard will bear me 
out as to the fact.'' 

“ Certainly. That is so,'' said Dr. Skates, his 
voice dropping from its ringing, imperious tones 
to a sort of half-whisper. 

“ Ever since then, I know, I have been in sole 
command in the sick-room, and I prepared every- 
thing with my own hands that Miss Farebrother 
ate and drank.'' 

‘‘ Did you, indeed ? '' murmured Dr. Skates 
politely. 

“Yes,” said Valetta. “I kept a fire going in 
her room on purpose.” She turned to Dr. Pres- 


A Desperate Game 277 

ton. ‘‘You see, doctor, Jarman had been told 
by Mrs. Skates — ” 

“ It’s false ! I told her nothing,” almost 
shrieked that lady. 

“ She had been told,” pursued Valetta, “ to pre- 
pare everything for Miss Farebrother in the 
dressing-room. But while something was cooking 
in there I saw some one enter and leave the room, 
and so I took it into my head that, for fear of 
accidents, nothing that was prepared in that room 
should be given to Miss Farebrother.” There 
was a deadly hush in the room as the girl went 
on : “ But I allowed all the meals to be prepared 
in there just the same, though I did not let her 
touch them. And — ” Here the girl paused a 
moment, to steady herself, and then went on in 
a suddenly louder tone : “ As the first meal of 
yesterday had disagreed with her so badly, I have 
thought it best. Dr. Preston, to keep everything 
that was prepared in the dressing-room for you 
to see, or, if you think proper, to analyze.” 

Once more there ran a thrill through the room. 
Then in the deadly silence. Dr. Skates spoke again. 

“ Your cleverness and your care do you honor. 
Miss Bell. But I do think it is hard upon poor 
old Jarman that you should suspect her of play- 
ing tricks with your mistress’s food ! ” 

Valetta did not meet his eyes, but she smiled 
faintly. Gaspard would have spoken to her, but 
he was too much shaken with conflicting emotions 
to find words. Dr. Preston said : 

“ Let me have these things now, and I will take 
them with me to-night.” 


A Desperate Game 

‘‘ No. Let me bring them round in the morn- 
ing,” suggested Dr. Skates. 

“ Thanks. I’ll take them now.” 

Valetta was on her way to the door, when Mrs. 
Skates sprang across the room, and seizing her 
arm in a grip that caused the girl to cry out, hissed 
into her ear : 

You wicked mischief-maker. You’ll pay for 
this ! ” 

‘‘ My dear, my dear ! ” remonstrated Dr. Skates 
in the sweetest accents, as he disengaged the young 
girl, and let her go out of the room. ‘‘ You are 
mistaken. She is actuated by the most admirable 
sense of duty. That, I am sure, will be her best 
reward.” 

But somehow the Doctor s suave tones sounded 
deadlier than his wife’s stinging speeches. 


CHAPTER XXIII 

Valetta had scarcely left the drawing-room 
when a frightened servant came to the door to say 
that the police had come, and that they were in 
the grounds. The moment Gaspard heard this 
he followed the servant into the hall, without no- 
ticing Dr. Skates. That gentleman, on hearing 
the news, opened one of the long French windows, 
and went out by that way, by which means he 
stole a march of some minutes upon Miss Fare- 
brother’s nephew. 

The consequence was that, by the time Gas- 


A Desperate Game 279 

pard reached the group, and began to relate the 
details of the discovery of the body to the two 
policemen, he found that they were already in 
possession of Dr. Skates's version of the affair, 
and moreover of that ingenious gentleman’s theo- 
ries about the crime. Both the officers were very 
nervous, very deferential, and it was not until the 
colloquy between them and Gaspard had lasted 
some minutes that he discovered, to his hot indig- 
nation, that the questions they asked all pointed 
to the implication of his brother Michael in the 
crime. 

The anger with which he turned upon Dr. 
Skates, when he recognized this fact, of course 
did him no good in the eyes either of the local 
superintendent of police, an antiquated and slow- 
witted functionary, or with his subordinate, a raw 
hand with little experience beyond drunk and dis- 
orderly cases, or an occasional instance of petty 
theft. 

‘■You’ve been putting suggestions into the 
mouths of these men ! ” cried Gaspard, indignantly, 
gaining by this remark a snub from the Doctor, 
and establishing firmly in the minds of the two 
policemen the notion that he was trying to shield 
his brother, whom he knew to be guilty of the 
murder. 

“ You do me a great injustice,” said Dr. Skates 
with dignity. “ These officers very naturally ap- 
pealed to me, as a visitor in the house, for such 
information as I could give them, about the 
events of the last two days and nights. I told 
them that the household was roused two nights 


28 o 


A Desperate Game 

ago by cries and sounds of a struggle, and that 
some of us went out and found your brother lying, 
with his leg broken, in a long hole in the ground, 
which he had apparently been digging, near this 
spot/' 

They were all standing, in fact, between the 
place where Michael had been found and the 
stack of wood under which the body of the mur- 
dered man was still lying. 

It was the suggestion of the Superintendent, 
offered quickly to prevent an altercation between 
the two gentlemen, that a doctor should be sent 
for to examine the body before it was moved. Gas- 
pard, remembering that Dr. Preston was still in 
the house, went himself in search of him, and 
the Doctor followed, both making their way 
through a terror-stricken little group of servants 
and neighbors, who slunk away as they came 
near. 

Gaspard found Dr. Preston at the foot of 
the staircase, receiving from Valetta a number of 
corked bottles, in which she had kept the food 
prepared for Miss Farebrother in the dressing- 
room. On learning the gruesome business upon 
which he was wanted the doctor was about to put 
the bottles into his carnage, which was waiting 
outside, when he suddenly caught sight of Dr. 
Skates in the background, following Gaspard. In 
the dry voice which had never been drier than it 
was to-night. Dr. Preston thereupon told the 
little companion to keep them for him till he came 
in again, and as a further precaution he told Gas- 
pard to remain with her. And as he said this, 


A Desperate Game 

the burly figure of Dr. Skates disappeared again 
in the direction of the grounds. 

“ Come into the drawing-room/’ said Gaspard 
in a low voice. But Valetta would not. 

‘‘ Mrs. Skates is in there,” said she. I think 
I’m more afraid of her than I am of him. I be- 
lieve she’d snatch these bottles away, in spite of 
both you and me.” 

They both spoke in hoarse whispers, shocked 
and shaken by the gloomy and mysterious events 
in which they found themselves involved. Gas- 
pard soon broke out into denunciations of the art- 
ful Skates. 

‘‘ He’s trying to throw the guilt of this murder 
on my brother,” said he. 

Valetta shuddered, and her lips formed the 
words ; ‘‘ I knew he’d do that.” Then she 
added : ‘‘ Why did he kill the man ? ” 

Gaspard bent his head very low to impart the 
following information : “ The man was a detect- 
ive, and he had recognized Skates as a man named 
Anderson, who tried to poison a rich old lady at 
Bournemouth. But it seems he hadn’t had time 
to send the news to his headquarters, Scotland 
Yard, for they wouldn’t listen to me there.” 

Valetta looked very thoughtful for a moment, 
and then her clever bright little brain evolved a 
bright suggestion. 

“ Why don’t you telegraph to the police at 
Bournemouth ? ” said she, “ and ask them to 
send a man here who knew this Anderson ? ” 

Gaspard’s face lit up. 

Splendid ! said he. I’ll do it at once.” 


^82 A Desperate Game 

Valetta detained him as he was moving away* 

“ And listen,” whispered she, don’t say a 
word about this to anybody. I don’t think Dr. 
Skates can have known that you knew he was 
Anderson. He must have thought the poor de- 
tective was the only one that knew it, or he 
wouldn’t have killed him. So for the present 
he feels safe, don’t you see ? Because as long as 
he isn’t identified, nothing will come of any dis- 
covery the doctor may make about the food. Do 
you see ? ” 

Gaspard nodded. It was an awful thing to 
think that he must still go on meeting this scoun- 
drel, this poisoner, this cold-blooded murderer, 
without denouncing him to his face. But a very 
little reflection convinced him that Valetta’s quick 
instinct was right. Skates was such a dangerous 
customer that the greatest caution was necessary 
indeed ; and while he stood in his present ticklish 
position, they might feel safe from further out- 
rages until they had made the case strong enough 
against him for the law to step in. 

As it was getting late, Valetta urged Gaspard 
not to wait for Dr. Preston’s return, but to start 
at once for the telegraph office. 

‘‘ Get away by all means without the Skateses’ 
knowledge, if you can,” was her advice. “ You 
may be sure he will keep close to Dr. Preston’s 
side, and Mrs. Skates will be looking out of the 
drawing-room window for him. So at present the 
coast’s clear. Go ! go 1 go ! ” 

Gaspard followed her instructions implicitly, 
and the time seemed long while Valetta kept 


A Desperate Game 283 

guard in the hall. As she expected, she saw noth- 
ing of Dr. Skates until the examination of the 
body was over, when he came in with Dr. Preston, 
declaring that the sight had quite unnerved him. 

Dr. Preston said very little, but when he had 
taken the bottles from Valetta and was just going 
out, he stooped to say low in the girl’s ear : 

I should keep Miss Farebrother in her own 
room all day to-morrow, and don’t let her see 
anybody but Jarman and yourself. Say it’s my 
order. And don’t let her hear anything about 
this dreadful business, if you can help it.” 

But this injunction was rather difficult to follow. 
It is not possible for such an occurrence to take 
place in the grounds of a quiet country house 
without exciting a great commotion. And Miss 
Farebrother had already heard the noise of a con- 
course of people in the garden, and had seen, 
even from her bed, the waving lights carried under 
the trees. Gently and cautiously, Valetta had to 
tell her something of the truth, suppressing, of 
course, the fact that any suspicion lay upon 
members of the household. Miss Farebrother, 
however, was not without intelligence enough to 
perform the operation known as putting two and 
two together ; and remembering that Michael 
had been found in the garden at a mysterious 
hour of the night, she soon began to frown at the 
mention of his name in an unmistakable manner. 
She made kindly inquiries about Dr. Skates, too, 
with an interest which irritated poor Valetta. 
Luckily, she did not, however, ask to see either 
him or his wife, and when, on the following morn- 


284 


A Desperate Game 

ing, her little companion told her that Dr. Preston 
wished her to keep to her room for another day, 
and see nobody, she submitted with a fairly good 
grace. 

There was one other precaution which clever 
little Valetta took, without consulting anybody. 
Miss Farebrother was in the habit of keeping a 
large, old-fashioned ebony dressing-case, full of 
valuable jewelry, at the bottom of her wardrobe. 
And in it, as Valetta knew, she always had some 
gold and notes, sometimes only forty or fifty 
pounds, but oftener a much larger amount. 
This fact was perfectly well-known to the three 
people most about her, Valetta, Jarman, and Mrs. 
Skates, and it must therefore also be known — so 
the young companion argued with herself — to 
Mrs. Skates’s husband. 

Now the young girl foresaw with some trepi- 
dation, that events might be expected to move 
rapidly before long, and she wondered whether, 
in the case of their finding refuge in flight, the 
Doctor and his wife would think of that dressing- 
case. She therefore took the opportunity, as 
soon as Miss Farebrother had gone to sleep that 
night, to take the dressing-case noiselessly out of 
the wardrobe, and to put it into a box-ottoman in 
the boudoir, carefully covering it with a few 
sheets of old music, a large pile of which she had 
displaced to make room for the dressing-case. 

She then carried the rest of the music into the 
bedroom, where she hid it under the sofa. 

It became evident, however, on the following 
day, that flight was the last notion likely to enter 


A Desperate Game ^^5 

the head of Dr. Skates. He was as lively and 
charming as usual, trying to keep up everybody’s 
spirits, and only showing by an occasional sym- 
pathetic reference that he was impressed by the 
tragedy which had taken place. 

Mrs. Skates, however, refused to be cheered up, 
and remained throughout the day low-spirited 
and nervous. She professed great disappointment 
on hearing that Miss Farebrother could not come 
down-stairs, but she did not ask to see her, and 
when her husband suggested that she should do 
so, she shrank from the notion. 

It was late in the afternoon of that day, and 
Gaspard and Valetta were both in the drawing- 
room, the latter having been sent down by Miss 
Farebrother, when a servant announced that a 
man wished to speak to Mr. Gaspard. 

Dr. Skates, who was standing, teacup in hand, 
in his favprite position with his back to the fire, 
looked quickly from the servant to Gaspard, and 
back again. He appeared to be about to ask a 
question, but before he could open his mouth, 
the younger man said quickly : 

“ Show him in here.” 

Valetta kept her eyes on her teacup, but Mrs. 
Skates drew a long breath, and her husband 
turned to her with his ready laugh. 

“ Why, my dear Blanche, how nervous you’ve 
grown ! ” cried he. “ But I suppose it’s not to 
be wondered at. There, there, my dear, don’t 
look so frightened ; I only spoke to tease you.” 

Even while he was patting her shoulder with 
a kindly hand, Gaspard’s voice, which sounded 


286 


A Desperate Game 

so broken and harsh as to be scarcely recognizable, 
cried : ‘‘ Ah, how do you do ? ” 

Dr. Skates instinctively looked round to see to 
whom this oddly uttered greeting was given, and 
a change came over his face at once. 

Yet, at first sight, there would have appeared 
to be nothing alarming about the very common- 
place-looking person who had just come round 
the screen into the room. He was a man of about 
thirty-five, with a black mustache, and a well 
set-up, smart appearance. He wore a warm, 
dark overcoat, and carried a round-topped black 
hat in his hand. But his eyes swept the room 
with a keen professional glance, and rested upon 
Dr. Skates. 

It was not until then that he returned Gaspard’s 
greeting. Even as he did so, his sharp black 
eyes gave another glance at the Doctor. 

“ 1 got your telegram, sir,” he said, “ and re- 
ceived instructions to come on here at once.” 

Gaspard, however, took care to keep his eyes 
fixed on the new-comer. 

“ The fact is,” he said, that a man has been 
murdered here ; I dare say you’ve heard about it 
coming along ; and there’s a great deal of mystery 
about it. I’m inclined to think the local police 
are scarcely strong enough to grapple with such 
a business. That’s why I sent for you.” 

“ Any one suspected ? ” 

“ Nobody at all,” cried Gaspard quickly. ‘‘ It’s 
a mystery altogether. This gentleman. Dr. 
Skates, and these ladies — by the by. I’m sorry to 
have to talk about it before them — know as much 


A Desperate Game 287 

about it as I do, and that’s not much. Sit down, 
pray. We’ll tell you all about it. Dr. Skates, 
you’re a better speaker than I. Will you tell 
the story ? ” 

Dr. Skates hesitated only for a moment ; then 
he did as he was asked, giving a very straight- 
forward version of the affair, and treating much 
more circumspectly than hitherto the absent 
Michael’s share in the events of the fatal night. 

The police officer listened with the greatest at- 
tention and respect, and now, instead of looking 
at Dr. Skates, as he had done at first, he kept his 
eyes** studiously away from him, looking at the 
room, at Gaspard, at Valetta, and at Mrs. Skates, 
with the same amount of placid non-interest. 

It seems a very puzzling affair, sir,” he said, 
when the recital was over, meeting the Doctor’s 
eyes again for a moment, and then looking away. 

Have you no clue ? No suspicions? ” 

The Doctor shook his head gravely. Except 
that his florid complexion was a little paler than 
usual, he appeared to be quite undisturbed. 

“ It isn’t safe to have suspicions,” he said 
gravely. ‘‘ It’s better to dp as Mr. Farebrother 
has done, and to put the matter at once into pro- 
fessional hands.” 

“ I quitp agree with you, sir. Perhaps,” and 
the visitor rose and turned to Gaspard, “ you 
would let me see the place where the body was 
found ? ” 

Gaspard at once led the way across the room 
to the window that faced the lawn, and went out 
with him. 


288 


A Desperate Game 

It was not surprising that so highly strung a 
woman as Mrs. Skates should utter a moan of 
deep distress as soon as they had gone out. 
Valetta, shaking in every limb, and feeling like a 
spy in the presence of these two, ran out through 
the inner door with a scared face, and hastened 
up-stairs. 

As soon as Gaspard and the police officer from 
Bournemouth were half-way across the lawn, the 
latter said, dropping the words out in a casual way, 
and with only a half-turn of the head towards his 
companion : 

Thaf s him, sir. That’s Anderson. His 
beard and hair were black when he was at Bourne- 
mouth ; but there’s no mistake about him pos- 
sible. How did you know who he was ? ” 

For answer Gaspard told him the whole story 
of the Skateses, and their stay at the Abbey, his 
suspicions and his brother’s, the manner in which 
the artful Doctor had worked round Miss Fare- 
brother to get her to leave her property in his 
hands, his brother’s communication with Scotland 
Yard, and the exclamation of the detective Watkin, 
who was sent down to watch Skates. 

“Watkin ! ” said the officer. “That was the 
very man who came down from London in the 
Bournemouth affair, and I’ve no doubt he was 
sent here on account of the similarity of the 
cases.” 

“ I don’t think though, that they had any idea, 
at Scotland Yard, that Skates was Anderson,” 
said Gaspard. “ They wouldn’t have treated me 
in the off-hand way they did yesterday, if they 


A Desperate Game 289 

had thought they were on the track of a man like 
that/’ 

And he repeated his experience at the police 
head-quarters on the preceding day. 

I shouldn’t wonder,” said the officer, “ if 
Anderson had been at work ‘there. Poor Watkin . 
was the only man up there that knew him, I 
believe.” 

‘‘ That has been suggested,” said Gaspard. 

‘‘ Look here, sir. I’ll go back to the house and 
put a few questions, if you’ll allow me, to the man 
and to the young lady that’s looked after your 
aunt. And I think, if our gentleman hasn’t dis- 
appeared before then, 1 shall have enough to go 
upon, and I’ll clap the darbies on him and take 
him before the nearest J.P. straight away.” 

“ That’ll be Colonel Marsh, at the corner,” 
said Gaspard. ‘‘ I’ll have the close carriage 
brought round for you.” 

So they took a hasty glance at the spot where 
the body was found, and the officer went into the 
out-house where the dead man lay, while Gaspard 
gave the order at the stables. Then they returned 
to the house, and Gaspard brought Valetta back 
into the hall to relate all she knew. 

The result was that Gaspard and the officer re- 
turned to the drawing-room together, where they 
found the Doctor and his wife in their old positions, 
he on the hearthrug, and she in an armchair. 

I beg pardon, sir,” said the police officer to 
the former, standing at a respectful distance, and 
again keeping his eyes away from his face, “ but 
I’ve got all the information this gentleman could 
Iff 


^90 A Desperate Game 

give me, and all the young lady could give me : 
I should be glad if you would give me all you can 
too.” 

‘‘ Certainly I will,” said Dr. Skates readily. 
‘‘ Fire away, and Fll answer all your questions as 
well as I can.” 

‘‘Well, in the first place, sir, would you tell 
me about those fireworks you let off in the grounds 
the night before last ^ ” 

The Doctor never flinched. He laughed a 
little. 

“ I didn’t let them off! I only wanted to,” he 
said promptly. “ I set fire to my coat and had 
to come in to change it.” 

“ And would you oblige me, sir, by letting me 
see the damaged coat ? ” 

At this question Mrs. Skates started violently, 
unmistakably, and cried : 

“ It’s that horrid little mischief-maker. Miss 
Bell, told you to ask that 1 ” 

Dr. Skates laughed and patted her shoulder, in 
his usual kindly fashion. 

“ Nonsense, nonsense, Blanche. Every little 
detail about such a night as that has to be well 
sifted.” He turned to the officer. “ Certainly, 
you shall see the coat, or what remains of it. Is 
it in my chest of drawers, Blanche ? ” 

Mrs. Skates bowed her head. Gaspard fancied 
that something in the Doctor’s look as he met 
her eyes instructed her to give an assent. 

“ Then,” said the Doctor, “ I’ll bring it down 
to you.” 

He left the room in the most leisurely way in 


A Desperate Game 291 

world, but the police-officer sauntered quietly 
towards the door after him, and Gaspard went 
too. When the latter looked round, hearing a 
slight noise, he saw Mrs. Skates standing by one 
of the windows, which she was holding open, look- 
ing out. 

“ What's the matter ? " asked Gaspard, going 
back. 

“ I feel rather faint, that’s all,” said she. 

It was a few seconds later when Valetta, who 
had returned to Miss Farebrother’s room, and 
was sitting by the fire, was startled to see Dr. 
Skates, pale as the dead, and with an awful frown 
upon his face, in the room beside her. Miss Fare- 
brother was in bed, and was having a little nap, 
and the Doctor had entered so softly through the 
dressing-room that she had not woke up. 

Valetta did not scream, but she rose to her feet, 
and watched the Doctor, with her finger pressing 
the electric-bell as she did so. He was appar- 
ently unaware of what she was doing, being intent 
upon opening the wardrobe. Valetta knew what 
he was looking for, and knew that he would 
not find it. He had scarcely finished turning 
over the contents of the wardrobe when Jarman, 
in answer to the summons of the bell, came pant- 
ing into the room. She uttered a shrill scream, 
and Miss Farebrother woke up. 

Darting a savage glance at Valetta, who got be- 
hind a chair to be out of his way, he disappeared 
out of the room as quickly as he had entered it, 
leaving the three women trembling and uttering 
exclamations of fright. 


^9^ A Desperate Game 

When they had recovered enough self-posses- 
sion to ring the bell again, their explanations 
came too late. The police-officer was at once in- 
formed of what had occurred, and the house was 
searched from garret to cellar. 

But Dr. Skates had got away. 


CHAPTER XXIV 

The whole house was in an uproar for the rest 
of the day. The local police were at once com- 
municated with, and a telegram was sent to Scot- 
land Yard with full information of the murder of 
Watkin and the escape of the suspected man. 

In the meantime none of the servants could 
rest, or go from one room to another alone. It 
was in vain that an attempt was made to keep the 
events of the day from Michael, and it was very 
difficult to keep him quiet when he knew that the 
rascal was unmasked at last. It was late in the 
afternoon when Gaspard, who had been to the 
police station, came back with the news that An- 
derson had been caught. 

‘‘It was the man from Bournemouth who 
caught him,”. said he, “and I saw him off to Can- 
terbury in the company of the officer and of one 
of our men down here. They got a warrant this 
afternoon.’' 

“To Canterbury? ” echoed Valetta. 

“ Yes. They’d no place strong enough to 
keep him in here. I suppose he’ll be brought 


A Desperate Game 293 

Up at the police court in the morning.” Then 
after a pause he asked quickly : Where’s Mrs. 
Skates ? ” 

“ She went to her room at once, without a word 
to anybody. Shall I send one of the servants to 
her ? I daren’t go myself. Hating me as she 
does, she wouldn’t like to see me at such a time.” 

Gaspard assented to this course, and a maid was 
sent to ask whether Mrs. Skates would come 
down to dinner. The girl came back with a 
frightened face. 

Well, what did she say ? ” asked Gaspard. 

‘‘ She isn’t there, sir. Mrs. Skates isn’t there. 
There’s a young lady in her room, packing her 
trunks.” 

Gaspard shivered. 

‘‘ More of this trickery ! ” he exclaimed in dis- 
gust. It makes me sick. At such a time as 
this they can bring this other woman in ! ” 

Before Valetta could answer, the door of the 
room in which they stood was thrown hurriedly 
open, and there entered, dressed in a travelling 
dress, with a bonnet and a long cloak, the tall 
young woman with dark hair whom Gaspard in 
a moment recognized as the ghost ” he had seen 
by his aunt’s bedside. He started to his feet in 
amazement, not unmingled with a sort of terror. 
But Valetta sat still without moving. 

The new-comer tossed her head, and spoke ; 
and lo, the voice was the voice of Mrs. Skates. 

Although before she opened her mouth Gas- 
pard had had an inkling of the truth, yet the 
knowledge that the slender dark girl and the stout. 


294 A Desperate Game 

middle-aged Mrs. Skates were one and the 
same person gave him nevertheless a sickening 
shock. 

“ Oh, don’t pretend to be surprised,” said the 
woman, with an irritated manner. “ Miss Bell 
knew all about it, and so I suppose you did.” 

‘‘ No,” said Valetta, “ I had guessed the truth 
on the night of the party, when I saw you lying 
on the sofa, and when I saw some of your padded 
frocks hanging in the cupboard. But I said noth- 
ing about it ; it was a thing one had to be very 
sure about.” 

“ Oh, well, you know it now,” said Mrs. Skates 
shortly, and you know that my husband has 
been arrested, at least the servants say so : and 
so, of course, you’re all quite satisfied.” 

Both these young- people who were listening 
to her felt sorry for this woman, who, tied to an 
accomplished rogue, had been faithful to him, sub- 
missive to him through everything. They made 
no reply, therefore, to her words, and after a pause 
it was she who went on. Turning to Valetta she 
said, with vixenish emphasis : 

“ It was you who did it all — you whom he was 
always admiring for your pretty face and your 
cleverness. He didn’t know where your grand 
brains would lead him ! However, you need 
not flatter yourself that you will have the laugh 
on your side all the time. You will not have the 

pleasure of hearing that he is in prison ” 

But you mustn’t deceive yourself about that,” 
interrupted Gaspard gently. He is really in 
the hands of the police ” 


A Desperate Game ^95 

It was Mrs. Skates who interrupted now, with 
a little scoffing laugh. 

‘‘ He may have been in their hands when you 
last heard about him, but it by no means follows 
that he is in them now,” she retorted calmly. 
‘‘ A man of resource like my Jamie is not to be 
beaten by a handful of your chuckle-headed 
country policemen. I wish you both good even- 
ing. Pray, Miss Bell, give my kind regards to 
Mr. Michael Farebrother, and tell him he ought 
to be proud of the pains you have taken on his 
behalf. But you won’t succeed in fastening his 
crime upon my husband.” 

And she sailed out of the room, and walked 
steadily to the fly she had ordered. 

Gaspard felt nothing but pity for her. Know- 
ing, as she pretended not to know, how strong 
the case against her husband was, he thought that 
the poor woman might be reduced to great straits 
of poverty when she discovered the truth as to 
his position. So he got to the cab before her, 
and put notes and gold to the value of twenty 
pounds into the outside pocket of her travelling- 
bag. Then he escaped quickly into the house, 
leaving her to discover what he had done when 
she was well on her way. 

When he got back to Valetta, he found her in 
tears. 

‘‘ I felt so sorry for her,” said she. ‘‘It will 
break her heart when she finds out she’s wrong 
about her husband.” 

“ Are you so sure she will be wrong ? ” asked 
Gaspard doubtfully. “ He’s escaped them before, 


296 A Desperate Game 

you know. They could bring nothing home to 
him in the Bournemouth business ! 

“ But there’s more against him this time — 
murder and attempted murder, too,” said Valetta. 

“ We shall see,” said Gaspard dubiously. 

And the event proved that he had reason for 
his doubts. Anderson, alias Macdonald, alias 
Skates, and alias several other names which never 
came to light, was indeed duly handcuffed and 
put into the train at St. Mary’s-on-Sea in charge 
of two policemen. But before the train reached 
Canterbury he took a flying leap through the 
window of the compartment, and falling on his 
head, received such injuries that he died within a 
couple of hours in a cottage close by, thus ending 
a career of daring rascality, of wasted ability, and 
of almost unexampled callousness and brilliancy 
combined. 

There was no doubt that, but for his daring 
leap, he would have been hanged for the murder 
of the unfortunate Detective Watkin ; and sub- 
sequent inquiries proved that Anderson’s audacity 
in the matter had been extreme. On finding that 
he was recognized by this man, the only Scotland 
Yard official who knew him, he had at once made 
up his mind to make away with him without de- 
lay, and that very night, after the magic lantern 
entertainment, he had taken the poker from one 
of the fireplaces of the great hall, and, in spite 
of the remonstrances of his wife (overheard by 
Valetta) had gone out, met Watkin, pretended to 
parley with him in the open space under the trees, 
and, watching his opportunity, had dealt him a 


A Desperate Game '^91 

Stunning blow, which he had quickly followed 
with others, until the unfortunate man’s head was 
battered in. He had then dragged the body to 
the woodstack, covered it over, and turned over 
the ground to hide the traces of the deed. Then 
hastening to the house by the garden door, at 
which he had fumbled with his hands until his 
wife, who was on the watch, let him in, he had 
gone upstairs and changed his clothes, burning 
the stained dress-suit in his own bedroom fire 
that night, and accounting for an injury which 
the dying grasp of the detective had inflicted, by 
the lame story of a cut inflicted by one of the 
lantern slides. 

There could be no doubt that Michael disturbed 
him that night while he was digging a grave in 
which to bury the man he had murdered. 

And on the following morning, very early, he, 
having discovered on the body a copy of the code 
by which Watkin telegraphed to his chief, sent 
the following message, decipherable only to those 
to whom it was sent, up to Scotland Yard : 

On a wrong scent. The young man who in- 
structed me is trying to get hold of his aunt’s 
m.oney. Am watching him. Will send full 
details. 

It was owing to this telegram, which was sup- 
posed to be sent by the unfortunate Watkin, that 
poor Gaspard had been so coolly received at head- 
quarters, on his visit to the police. 

The whole history of Anderson, as far as it 
could be known, came out later. Born in Scot- 
land, he had gone to America at an early age ; 


^9^ A Desperate Game 

and having made himself unpleasantly conspicuous 
in several faith-healing scandals, and in other more 
or less shady transactions with the help of spiritu- 
alistic mediums, he had come to England under 
the name of Macdonald, and started business as a 
“ Professor of Magnetic Healing ” in London, 
where, having married a very beautiful young 
Englishwoman, he lived in the most extravagant 
style, and lavished on his wife every luxury that 
money could procure. 

When even the flourishing business he carried 
on proved unequal to the strain of this mode of 
life, he and his wife suddenly disappeared, and 
though he turned up at Bournemouth under the 
name of Anderson, the wife remained in obscurity 
for about two years, when, after the Bournemouth 
escapade had made it desirable again to change 
both his residence and his name, Anderson ap- 
peared at St. Mary’s-on-Sea, with his white hair 
now undyed, and his wife came with him, no lon- 
ger as a young, slim woman, but in the disguise 
of a middle-aged and stout one. 

Even this most undesirable disguise the woman 
was willing to put on, for the sake of being once 
more with the man she devotedly loved. There 
were not wanting signs, however, that the woman, 
not naturally heartless or base, suffered cruelly 
under the stress of the life she had to lead, and 
grew irritable, restless, and miserable. While she 
only once rebelled or threatened to turn traitor to 
her master, she was sullen and unhappy, even 
while she submitted to each new trick, and took 
her share in its successful accomplishment. 


A Desperate Game ^99 

It was, of course, she, who, discarding her dis- 
guise and wearing her own long dark hair loose, 
had entered Miss Farebrother’s room at night as 
a ‘‘ spirit,” and induced h^f to accord to Dr. 
Skates that implicit confidence which the old lady 
might sometimes have been inclined to withhold. 
She it was who, much against her will, had ar- 
ranged for Miss Farebrother’s invalid food to be 
prepared in the dressing-room, where her husband 
could slip in and out unseen by anyone in the 
bedroom, and introduce a deadly drug into a 
harmless dish or draught. 

For in every one of the samples of food which 
clever Valetta had withheld from Miss Farebrother 
during her illness, colchicum was discovered, in 
doses which, if they had all been administered 
as he had supposed, must have caused her death. 

It was only little by little that Miss Farebrother, 
very much shaken by what she had already heard 
of the disgraceful collapse of her favorites, was al- 
lowed to hear the whole of the appalling history. 

Valetta kept silent upon the matter as long as 
she could, even under the provocation of find- 
ing that Miss Farebrother was inclined to be 
cold and distant to her, and to appear to attribute 
some of the recent disasters to her interference. 

So strongly did Valetta feel this unjust treat- 
ment that, when ten days had elapsed since the 
death of the Doctor and the disappearance of Mrs. 
Skates, she one day announced to the old lady 
that she should be glad if she might go away. 

Miss Farebrother, who, since the dreadful 
events of the last few days, had kept her room to 


3°o A Desperate Game 

avoid visitors and the sight of the room she as- 
sociated with her lost proteges, turned upon her 
sharply. 

‘‘ And, pray, what is the reason of this ? ” she 
asked, haughtily. 

‘‘ Well, for one, thing, I quite understand that 
you would like to be free from all associations 
which remind you of what has happened,’' stam- 
mered Valetta, not making her sense very clear, 
but hurrying on with her words. 

“ But I don’t associate you with what has hap- 
pened, except in the right way. It was only this 
morning Dr. Preston told me you’d saved me 
from being poisoned.” 

And the old lady began to shiver and to grow 
pale. 

‘‘ Oh, don’t think about that,” said Valetta 
quickly. ‘‘ Of course, for my own sake, I had to 
take care nothing happened to you.” 

‘‘ Then it appears you saved my jewelry and 
money from being stolen, and that you gave some 
valuable information to the police.” 

“Well, I think all those things irritate you, 
don’t they? ” s:ud Valetta, “ and make you look 
upon me as a female detective rather than as an 
ordinary human girl.” 

“Well, I do think you dreadfully clever,” ad- 
mitted the old lady, looking at her with a certain 
weird interest. 

“Well,” said little Valetta, rising from her 
chair and clasping b^er hands, “ I’m going to con- 
fess something which will show you that I’m very 
human^ much too human, in fact, for my position 


A Desperate Game 3oi 

here. Fm in love with your nephew, Michael. 
There ! ’’ And she opened her hands and spread 
them out apologetically. ‘‘ And so I haven’t 
been near the poor fellow all the time he’s been 
ill, so that he might not make you angry again 
through seeing me. For I tell you, if he were to 
see much of me ” 

Her voice trembled and she broke down a mo- 
ment, and then went on : 

‘‘ And so I’m going before he gets up again.” 

Miss Farebrother listened in silence, and pres- 
ently a tear rolled down her cheek. Then she 
held out her little yellow hand. 

“ Come here, child,” she said ‘‘I’m a silly old 
woman, and I haven’t liked to own it. Stay with 
me, child, stay, and — and — well, you needn’t 
worry your head about Michael. He shall do as 
he likes, and if he wants a clever and pretty little 
wife, and doesn’t want to go far for her, why — I 
shan’t be very cruel.” 

And as the girl sank down beside her chair, the 
old lady laid a kind hand on her pretty head, and 
printed a kiss on her white forehead. 

That afternoon there was a light tap at the 
door of Michael’s room, and when the nurse 
opened it, she found Miss Farebrother and Va- 
letta there together. 

“ May we come in for a few minutes, if we’re 
quiet ? ” asked the old lady. 

Michael started at the sight of the two ladies, 
and the tears came to his eyes. His aunt kissed 
him gently, and led the girl, who was shy and si- 
lent, forward by the hand. 


302 


A Desperate Game 

“ She wanted to go away from us, Michael, but 
I think youVe only got to ask her to persuade 
her to stay/’ 

They said nothing to each other, these two : 
they could scarcely exchange a look for the mois- 
ture that would come. At last Michael heaved 
a great sigh, and said : 

“ Let me kiss your hand, Valetta, and then I 
shall know you’re real.” But instead of that, she 
put her lips to his forehead, and he looked from 
her to his aunt and back again and smiled and 
sighed at the same time. 

“ Thank Heaven ! ” whispered he to himself 
rather than to them, “it’s over. It was a desper- 
ate game, but we’ve gained the day. And hur- 
ray ! ” murmured he, chuckling, “ Mrs. Chalmers 
won’t send Madeline to see what the children are 
doing the next time poor Gaspard speaks to her ! ” 

And he was right. She didn’t. 

THE END. 


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OF NEW COPVR.IGHT FICTION 


A. L. BURT COMI^ANY, ^ 
PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK ^ ^ 





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